C4Part I Articles of war
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.
35F3 Falsification of documents.
1
A person subject to this Act who—
a
makes an official document which is to his knowledge false in a material particular, or
b
makes in any official document an entry which is to his knowledge false in a material particular, or
c
tampers with the whole or any part of an official document (whether by altering it, destroying it, suppressing it, removing it or otherwise), or
d
with intent to deceive, fails to make an entry in an official document,
is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years or any less punishment authorised by this Act.
2
For the purposes of this section—
a
a document 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 made by another shall be treated, as well as that other, as the maker of the document.
3
In this section “document” means anything in which information of any description is recorded.
35AF4 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.
35BF5 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 F6behaves in a scandalous manner unbecoming the character of an officer shall be liable to dismissal from Her Majesty’s service with or without disgrace.
36AF7 Ill-treatment of persons of inferior rank etc.
If—
a
any officer subject to this Act . . . F8 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 . . . F8 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
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
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 F13the 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.
F143A
If the offender has attained seventeen years of age but is under twenty-one years of age, F15subsection (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.
Pt. I (ss. 1-44) applied (1.6.1996) by Armed Forces Act 1991 (c. 62), ss. 18(9)(c), 20(10)(c), 27(2); S.I. 1996/1173, art. 2