Air Force Act 1955

Courts-martial: general provisions

84 Trial to be by general court-martial, district court-martial or in certain cases field general court-martial

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, a charge which is to be tried by court-martial shall be tried either by general court-martial or by district court-martial.

(2) Where the officer commanding a body of the regular air force on active service—

(a) being an officer (whether air-force, naval or military) to whom a charge has been submitted under subsection (1) of section seventy-nine of this Act for determining how it is to be dealt with, or

(b) being the accused's commanding officer who has investigated a charge which cannot be dealt with summarily or which in his opinion ought not to be so dealt with, or

(c) being the accused's commanding officer or the appropriate superior authority who has investigated a charge on which the accused has elected to be tried by court-martial,

is of opinion that it is not possible without serious detriment to the public service that the charge should toe tried by a general or district court-martial, the officer may (whether or not he is authorised to convene general courts-martial) direct that the charge shall be tried by a field general court-martial.

85 Powers of different descriptions of court-martial

(1) A general court-martial shall have power to try any person subject to air-force law for any offence which under this Act is triable by court-martial, and to award for any such offence any punishment authorised by this Act for that offence.

(2) A district court-martial shall have the powers of a general court-martial except that it shall not try an officer or sentence a warrant officer to imprisonment, discharge with ignominy, dismissal or detention, and shall not award the punishment of death or of imprisonment for a term exceeding two years.

(3) A field general court-martial shall have the powers of a general court-martial, except that where the court consists of less than three officers the sentence shall not exceed imprisonment for a term of two years.

86 Officers having power to convene courts-martial

(1) A general court-martial may be convened by any qualified officer authorised by Her Majesty by warrant under Her sign manual to convene general courts-martial or that court-martial, or by any qualified officer under the command of an officer authorised as aforesaid to whom the last-mentioned officer has, in the exercise of a power conferred by the warrant issued to him, delegated his power to convene general courts-martial.

(2) A district court-martial may be convened by an officer authorised to convene general courts-martial, by any person, not below the rank of flight lieutenant, under the command of such an officer whom that officer has authorised to convene district courts-martial, by any air officer commanding a body of the air force or by any officer for the time being acting in the place of such an air officer.

(3) A field general court-martial may be convened by the officer who directed that the charge should be tried by field general court-martial.

(4) Notwithstanding anything in subsection (1) or (2) of this section, any power to convene courts-martial delegated under subsection (1) of this section shall be exercisable only for the trial of a person who at the date of the convening order is under or within the territorial limits of the convening officer's command, and an officer, other than one authorised to convene general courts-martial, shall not by virtue of subsection (2) of this section convene a district court-martial except for the trial of a person under his command.

(5) In this section the expression " qualified officer " means any officer not below the rank of squadron leader or corresponding rank who—

(a) is in command of a body of the regular air force, or

(b) is in command of the command within which a body of the regular air force is serving.

(6) Any warrant under this section, or any authorisation under this section to convene courts-martial—

(a) may be made subject to restrictions, reservations, exceptions or conditions;

(b) may be addressed to officers by name or by designation of their offices, and may be issued or given to a named or designated officer, to a named or designated officer and to the person for the time being performing the duties of his office, to a named or designated officer and his successors in that office or to a named or designated officer and such person and successors;

(c) may be varied or may be revoked, either wholly or in part, by a subsequent warrant of Her Majesty or, as the case may be, by the officer by whom it was given or his successor in office.

(7) Where an officer on board ship—

(a) has had power to convene general courts-martial delegated to him by an officer under whose command he was before the departure of the ship, or

(b) has been authorised under subsection (2) of this section to convene district courts-martial by such an officer,

he may convene courts-martial to the like extent as if he had continued under the command of the officer delegating the power or granting the authorisation.

87 Constitution of general courts-martial

(1) A general court-martial shall consist of the president and not less than four other officers.

(2) Save as hereinafter provided, an officer shall not be appointed a member of a general court-martial unless he belongs to Her Majesty's air forces, is subject to air-force law and has held a commission in any of the armed forces of the Crown for a period of not less than three years or for periods amounting in the aggregate to not less than three years.

(3) Not less than four of the members of a general court-martial shall be of a rank not below that of flight lieutenant.

(4) The president of a general court-martial shall be appointed by order of the convening officer, and shall be of the rank of squadron leader or higher rank unless in the opinion of the convening officer no such officer having suitable qualifications is, with due regard to the public service, available; and in any event the president of a general court-martial shall not be under the rank of flight lieutenant.

(5) The members of a general court-martial, other than the president, shall be appointed by order of the convening officer or in such other manner as may be prescribed.

(6) An officer under the rank of flight lieutenant shall not be a member of a general court-martial for the trial of an officer above that rank.

88 Constitution of district courts-martial

(1) A district court-martial shall consist of the president and not less than two other officers.

(2) Save as hereinafter provided, an officer shall not be appointed to be a member of a district court-martial unless he belongs to Her Majesty's air forces, is subject to air-force law and has held a commission in any of the armed forces of the Crown for a period of not less than two years or for periods amounting in the aggregate to not less than two years.

(3) The president of a district court-martial shall be appointed by order of the authority convening the court, and shall be of the rank of squadron leader or higher rank unless in the opinion of the authority convening the court no such officer having suitable qualifications is, with due regard to the public service, available ; and in any event the president of a district court-martial shall not be under the rank of flight lieutenant.

(4) The members of a district court-martial, other than the president, shall be appointed by order of the authority convening the court or in such other manner as may be prescribed.

89 Constitution of field general courts-martial

(1) A field general court-martial shall consist of the president and not less than two other officers, or, if the convening officer is of opinion that three officers having suitable qualifications are not available without serious detriment to the public service, shall consist of the president and one other officer.

(2) Save as hereinafter provided, the members of a field general court-martial shall be persons belonging to Her Majesty's air forces and subject to air-force law.

(3) The president of a field general court-martial shall be an officer appointed by the convening officer and shall not be under the rank of flight lieutenant.

(4) The members of a field general court-martial, other than the president, shall be appointed by order of the convening officer or in such other manner as may be prescribed.

90 Supplementary provisions as to constitution of courts-martial

(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 opinion of the convening officer to appoint another officer as president, he may himself be president of the court-martial.

(2) An officer who at any time between the date on which the accused was charged with the offence and the date of the trial has been the commanding officer of the accused, and any other officer who has investigated the 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 as a 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 convening officer the necessary number of air-force officers having suitable qualifications is not available to form the 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 military authority, appoint any naval or military officer as president in lieu of an air-force officer or as any other member of the court in lieu of or in addition to an air-force officer or air-force officers:

Provided that no naval or military officer shall be qualified to act in relation to a court-martial unless he is of corresponding rank to that which would have been required in the case of an air-force officer and has held a commission in any of the armed forces of the Crown 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 flight lieutenant to be president, being of opinion that no officer of higher rank having suitable qualifications is, with due regard to the public service, available;

(b) an officer directs that an offender shall be tried by a field general court-martial, being of opinion that it is not possible without serious detriment to the public service that the offender should be tried by a general or district court-martial, or the officer convening a field general court-martial appoints two officers only to be members of the court, being of opinion that three officers having suitable qualifications are not without serious detriment to the public service available, or appoints himself to be 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 an air-force officer as president or any other member of the court, being of opinion that the necessary number of air-force officers having suitable qualifications is not available to form the court and cannot be made available with due regard to the public service,

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

(5) In this section the expression " air-force officer " means an officer belonging to Her Majesty's air forces and subject to air-force law.

91 Place for sitting of courts-martial and adjournment to other places

(1) Subject to the provisions of this section, a court-martial shall sit at such place (whether within or without Her Majesty's dominions) as may be specified in the order convening the court; and the convening officer may convene it to sit at a place outside the limits of his command.

(2) A court-martial sitting at any place shall if the convening officer directs it to sit at some other place, and may without any such direction if it appears to the court requisite in the interests of justice to sit at some other place, adjourn for the purpose of sitting at that other place.