Army Act 1955 (repealed)

90 Supplementary provisions as to constitution of courts-martial.F2 U.K.

(1) The officer who convened a court-martial shall not be a member of that court-martial:

Provided that if in the case of a field general court-martial it is not practicable in the opinionof the convening officer to appoint another officer as president, he may himself be president of thecourt-martial.

(2) An officer who at any time between the date on which the accused was charged with the offence and thedate of the trial has been the commanding officer of the accused, and any other officer who has investigatedthe charge against the accused, or who under this Act has held, or has acted as one of the persons holding,an inquiry into matters relating to the subject matter of the charge against the accused, shall not sit asa member of a general or district court-martial or act as judge advocate at such a court-martial.

(3) If any court-martial is required to be convened at any place where in the opinion of the conveningofficer the necessary number of military officers having suitable qualifications is not available to formthe court, and cannot be made available with due regard to the public service, the convening officer may,with the consent of the proper naval or air-force authority, appoint any naval or air-force officer aspresident in lieu of a military officer or as any other member of the court in lieu of or in addition toa military officer or military officers:

Provided that no naval or air-force officer shall be qualified to act in relation to a court-martialunless he is of corresponding rank to that which would have been required in the case of a military officerand has held a commission in [F1 any of Her Majesty’s naval, military or air forces] for the like period or periods as would have been so required.

(4) Where—

(a) the officer convening a general or district court-martial appoints a captain to be president, being ofopinion that a field officer having suitable qualifications is not with due regard to the public serviceavailable;

(b) an officer directs that an offender shall be tried by a field general court-martial, being of opinionthat it is not possible without serious detriment to the public service that the offender should be triedby a general or district court-martial, or the officer convening a field general court-martial appoints twoofficers only to be members of the court, being of opinion that three officers having suitablequalifications are not without serious detriment to the public service available, or appoints himself tobe president, being of opinion that it is not practicable to appoint another officer as president, or

(c) the officer convening any court-martial appoints an officer not being a military officer as presidentor any other member of the court, being of opinion that the necessary number of military officers havingsuitable qualifications is not available to form the court and cannot be made available with due regard tothe public service,

the order convening the court-martial shall contain a statement of the said opinion, and that statementshall be conclusive.

(5) In this section the expression “military officer” means an officer belonging to Her Majesty’s military forces and subjectto military law.

Textual Amendments

F1 Words substituted by Armed Forces Act 1966 (c. 45), s. 24

Textual Amendments applied to the whole legislation

F2 Act: the provisions of the 1955 Acts providing for findings of courts-martial to be subject to confirmation and to revision at the direction of the confirming officer cease to have effect (1.4.1997 subject to art. 3 of the commencing S.I.) by virtue of 1996 c. 46, s. 15; S.I. 1997/304, arts. 2, 3, Sch. 2