C4Part I Articles of war

Annotations:
Modifications etc. (not altering text)

Miscellaneous offences

34 Unauthorised disclosure of information.

1

Every person subject to this Act who without lawful authority discloses or purports to disclose, whether orally, in writing, by signal or by any other means whatsoever, information relating to any matter upon which information would or might be useful to an enemy shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or any less punishment authorised by this Act.

2

It shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence under this section that he did not know and had no reasonable cause to believe that the information disclosed related to a matter upon which information would or might be directly or indirectly useful to an enemy.

34AF2 False statements on entry. C1

Any person who, when offering himself to be entered for service in the Royal Navy, has knowingly made a false answer to any question put to him in connection with his entry into such service by, or by the direction of, an officer or other person authorised under regulations made by the Defence Council to enter persons for such service shall, if he has since become and remains subject to this Act, be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or any less punishment authorised by this Act.

35F12 Falsification of documents. C5

F131

Every person subject to this Act who—

F14a

makes an official document or official record which is to his knowledge false in a material particular, or

b

makes in any official document or official record an entry which is to his knowledge false in a material particular, or

c

tampers with the whole or any part of any official document or official record (whether by altering it, destroying it, suppressing it, removing it or otherwise), or

d

with intent to deceive, fails to make an entry in any official document or official record,

shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or any less punishment authorised by this Act.

F152

For the purposes of this section—

a

a document or record is official if it is or is likely to be made use of, in connection with the performance of his functions as such, by a person who holds office under, or is in the service of, the Crown; and

b

a person who has signed or otherwise adopted as his own a document or record made by another shall be treated, as well as that other, as the maker of the document or record.

3

In this section—

  • “document” includes, in addition to a document in writing—

    1. a

      any map, plan, graph or drawing;

    2. b

      any photograph;

    3. c

      any disc, tape, sound-track or other device in which sounds or other data (not being visual images) are embodied so as to be capable (with or without the aid of some other equipment) of being reproduced therefrom; and

    4. d

      any film, negative, tape or other device in which one or more visual images are embodied so as to be capable as aforesaid of being reproduced therefrom;

  • “film” includes a microfilm; and

  • “record” includes any account, any information recorded otherwise than in a document by mechanical, electronic or other means and any program in a computer.

35AF3 Offences against civilian population.

Every person subject to this Act who, in any country or territory outside the United Kingdom, commits any offence against the person or property of any member of the civilian population shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or any less punishment authorised by this Act.

35BF4 Offences against morale.

Any person subject to this Act who spreads (whether orally, in writing, by signal, or otherwise) reports relating to operations of Her Majesty’s forces, of any forces co-operating therewith, or of any part of any of those forces, being reports likely to create despondency or unnecessary alarm, shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or any less punishment authorised by this Act.

36 Cruelty or scandalous conduct by officers. C2

Every officer subject to this Act who F5behaves in a scandalous manner unbecoming the character of an officer shall be liable to dismissal from Her Majesty’s service with or without disgrace.

36AF6 Ill-treatment of persons of inferior rank etc.

If—

a

any officer subject to this Act . . . F7 ill-treats any officer subject thereto of inferior rank or less seniority, or any rating so subject, or

b

any rating subject to this Act and of or above the rate of leading seaman . . . F7 ill-treats any rating subject thereto of inferior rate or less seniority,

he shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or any less punishment authorised by this Act.

37 Disgraceful conduct. C3

Every person subject to this Act who is guilty of any F8disgraceful conduct of a cruel, indecent or unnatural kind shall be liable to F8imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or any less punishment authorised by this Act.

38 Offences in relation to courts-martial.

1

Every person subject to this Act who—

a

having been duly summoned or ordered to attend before a court-martial, fails to comply with the summons or order;

b

refuses to take an oath or make an affirmation when duly required by a court-martial to do so;

c

refuses to produce any document in his custody or under his control which a court-martial has lawfully required him to produce;

d

when a witness, refuses to answer any question which a court-martial has lawfully required him to answer;

e

wilfully insults any person, being a member of a court-martial or a witness or any other person whose duty it is to attend on or before the court, while that person is acting as a member thereof or is so attending, or while that person is going to or returning from the proceedings of the court; or

f

wilfully interrupts the proceedings of a court-martial, or otherwise misbehaves before the court,

shall be liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or any less punishment authorised by this Act.

2

References in subsection (1) of this section to a court-martial shall include references to a court-martial held in pursuance of the M1Army Act 1955, or the M2Air Force Act 1955, or the law of any colony and to a disciplinary court.

3

Where an offence against subsection (1) of this section is committed in relation to a court-martial and the court is of opinion that it is expedient that the offender should be dealt with summarily by the court instead of being brought to trial under this Act, the court may by order under the hand of the president sentence F16the offender—

a

if he is an officer, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding twenty-one days, or to a fine not exceeding the amount of his pay for twenty-eight days (a day’s pay being taken for this purpose as the gross amount which is, or would apart from any forfeiture be, issuable to the offender in respect of the day on which the order is made),

b

in any other case, to imprisonment or detention for such a term as aforesaid, or to such a fine as aforesaid.

F173A

If the offender has attained seventeen years of age but is under twenty-one years of age, F18subsection (3) above shall have effect in relation to him as if the power to impose a sentence of imprisonment were a power to make an order under section 43AA below.

39 Conduct to the prejudice of naval discipline.

Every person subject to this Act who is guilty F9whether by any act or omission or otherwise, of conduct to the prejudice of good order and naval discipline . . . F10 shall be liable to F11imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or any less punishment authorised by this Act.