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Courts Martial

  • The Army Act 1955 governs the procedure of Courts-Martial. The Court-Martial system was also extensively reformed by the Armed Forces Act 1996 in order to ensure fairness to the accused.

  • An accused who cannot be dealt with by his C.O. because of his rank or the seriousness of the offence, or because he has elected trial by court-martial, will be referred for trial by Court-Martial. The case is referred by the C.O. to Higher Authority who will in turn refer the case to the Army Prosecuting Authority (A.P.A.) if suitable for trial by Court-Martial. The test applied is whether there is an unretracted allegation which is not wholly incredible and which, if proved, would amount to the offence charged and there is no service reason why the case should not be tried by Court-Martial.

  • The A.P.A. consists of qualified lawyers who are members of the Army Legal Service. They are not part of the chain of command and therefore exercise independence in deciding whether or not to prosecute. If they determine that the case is suitable for Court-Martial, they will direct trial. 

  • The accused receives copies of the prosecution evidence and may instruct a civilian lawyer to defend him. His unit will provide him with an application for Army Legal Aid to assist with the cost of instructing a lawyer.

  • A District Court-Martial (D.C.M.) consists of a judge advocate and a total of three members, who can be commissioned officers and/or warrant officers and is most commonly convened for routine offences.

  • A General Court-Martial (G.C.M.) consists of a judge advocate and a total of five members, who can be commissioned officers and/or warrant officers and is convened to hear more serious offences.

  • The procedure at both is identical, although the G.C.M. has greater powers of punishment. Whilst a D.C.M. may not award a sentence of imprisonment or detention exceeding two years, a G.C.M. may award any sentence permitted by law for the offence in question.

  • The accused is entitled to be legally represented at the trial. Evidence is heard by way of examination of witnesses and cross-examination in the same way as a civilian court, with the officer members of the court effectively acting as the jury.

  • The judge advocate is responsible for directing those officers on the law and on sentencing, if the accused is convicted.

  • An accused may appeal against finding and/or sentence to the Court-Martial Appeal Court that may uphold the finding and/or award or quash or vary it.