Marking a Powers of a Mixture of Officers upon Courts-martial. District or Garrison Court-martial may deprive a Soldier of the Allowance in lieu of Beer, or of additional Pay, for any Period not exceeding Two Years, for habitual Drunkenness; provided that in all the foregoing Cases the Sentences shall be confirmed by the General Officer, Governor, or Senior Officer in command of the District, Garrison, Island, or Colony, except in Cases of Mutiny, when the Sentence may be confirmed and carried into Execution on the Spot by the Officer in the immediate Command of the Troops; and the President of every Court-martial, other than a General Court-martial, not being under the Rank of Captain, shall be appointed by the Officer convening such Court-martial; provided that such Court-martial shall not have Power to pass any Sentence of Death or Transportation. X. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for any Courtmartial empowered to try the Crime of Desertion, in addition to any other Punishment, to direct that the Offender be marked on the Left Side, Two Inches below the Arm-pit, with the Letter (D.,) such Letter not to be less than Half an Inch long, and to be marked upon the Skin with some Ink or Gunpowder, or other Preparation, so as to be visible and conspicuous, and not liable to be obliterated. XI. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for any Officer commanding any distinct Detachment or Portion of His Majesty's Troops which may at any Time be serving out of His Majesty's Dominions, upon Complaint made to him of any Offence committed against the Property or Person of any Inhabitant of or Resident in any such Countries, by any Person serving with or belonging to His Majesty's Armies, being under the immediate Command of any such Officer, to summon and cause to assemble a Courtmartial, which shall consist of not less than Three Officers, for the Purpose of trying any such Person, notwithstanding any such Officer shall not have received any Warrant empowering him to assemble Courts-martial; and every such Court-martial shall have the same Powers in regard to summoning and examining Witnesses, Trial of and Sentence upon Offenders, as are granted by this Act to General Courts-martial; provided that no Sentence of any such Court-martial shall be executed until the General commanding in chief the Army of which the Division, Brigade, Detachment, or Party to which any Person so tried, convicted, and adjudged to suffer Punishment shall belong, shall have approved and confirmed the same. XII. And be it enacted, That in certain Cases, where it may be necessary or expedient, Officers of His Majesty's Marine Forces may sit upon Courts-martial in conjunction with Officers of His Majesty's Land Forces; and such Courts-martial shall be regulated, to all Intents and Purposes, in like Manner as if they were composed of Officers of the Land Forces only, whether the Commanding Officer by whose Orders such Court-martial is assembled belongs to the Land or to the Marine Forces; and Officers of His Majesty's Land Forces, and Officers in the Service of the East India Company, when serving together, may be associated in Courts-martial, which shall, to all Intents and Purposes, be regulated in like Manner as if consisting wholly of Officers of His Majesty's Land Forces, or wholly of Officers in the Service of the East East India Company; save and except that on the Trial of any XIII. And be it enacted, That all General and other Courts- Power to admartial shall have Power and Authority and are hereby required minister Oaths. to administer an Oath to every Witness or other Person who shall be examined before such Court, in any Matter relating to any Proceedings before the same. XIV. And be it enacted, That in all Trials by Courts-martial to Proceedings of be held by virtue of this Act, every Member assisting at such Courts-martial. Trial, before any Proceedings be had thereupon, shall take the Oath in the Schedule to this Act annexed, before the Judge Advocate or his Deputy, or Person officiating as such, or, if a Regimental Court-martial, before the President of such Court, who are hereby respectively authorized to administer the same, and in Regimental Courts-martial any sworn Member shall administer the Oath to the President; and as soon as the said Oaths shall have been administered to the respective Members, the President of the Court is hereby authorized and required to administer to the Judge Advocate, or the Person officiating as such, the Oath in the Schedule to this Act annexed; and no Proceeding or Trial shall be had upon any Offence but between the Hours of Eight of the Clock in the Morning and Four in the Afternoon, except in Cases which require an immediate Example, and except in the East Indies, where such Proceedings or Trial may be had between the Hours of Six in the Morning and Four in the Afternoon; provided also, that all Witnesses duly summoned by the Judge Advocate, or the Person officiating as such, shall, during their necessary Attendance in such Courts, and in going to and returning from the same, be privileged from Arrest, and shall, if unduly arrested, be discharged by the Court out of which the Writ or Process issued by which such Witness was arrested; or if such Court be not sitting, then by any Judge of the Court of King's Bench in London or in Dublin, or Court of Session in Scotland, or Courts of Law in the East or West Indies or elsewhere, according as the Case shall require, upon its being made to appear to such Court or Judge, by Affidavit in a summary Way, that such Witness was arrested in going to or returning from or attending upon such Court-martial; and that all Witnesses so duly summoned as aforesaid who shall not attend on such Courts shall be liable to be attached in the Court of King's Bench in London or Dublin, or Court of Session, or Sheriff Depute or Stewarts Depute, or their respective Substitutes, within their several Shires and Stewartries in Scotland, or Courts of Law in the East or West Indies, or in any of His Majesty's Colonies, Garrisons, or Dominions in Europe or elsewhere respectively, upon Complaint made, in like Manner as Appeal. Report of Proceedings of General as if such Witness had neglected to attend in a Trial in any Proceeding in that Court. XV. And be it enacted, That no Officer or Soldier, being acquitted or convicted of any Offence, shall be liable to be tried a Second Time by the same or any other Court-martial for the same Offence, unless in the Case of an Appeal from a Regimental to a General Court-martial; and that no Finding, Opinion, or Sentence given by any Court-martial, and signed by the President thereof, shall be liable to be revised more than once. XVI. And be it enacted, That every Judge Advocate, or Person officiating as such at a General Court-martial, is required to transmit, with as much Expedition as the Opportunity of Time Courts-martial. and Distance of Place can admit, the original Proceedings and Sentence thereof to the Judge Advocate General in London, in whose Office they shall be carefully preserved; and the Person tried by such Court, or any Person in his Behalf, shall be entitled, on Demand, to a Copy of such Sentence and Proceedings (paying reasonably for the same), whether such Sentence shall be approved or not, at any Time not sooner than Six Months if the Trial took place at Gibraltar or in the Mediterranean, Three Months if at any other Station within Europe, and Twelve Months if elsewhere in His Majesty's Dominions : Provided that such Demand as aforesaid shall be made, and any Proceedings thereon had, within the Space of Three Years from the Date of the Approval or other final Decision upon the Proceedings before such General Court Transportation from the United Kingdom. martial. XVII. And be it enacted, That whenever it is intended that a Person convicted of Desertion shall be transported, either in pursuance of the original Sentence of a Court-martial or of His Majesty's gracious Order of Commutation as aforesaid, the Sentence of the Court-martial, together with His Majesty's Pleasure upon the same, shall be notified in Writing by the Officer commanding in chief His Majesty's Forces in Great Britain and Ireland, or, in the temporary Absence of such Officer, by the Adjutant General, to any Judge of the King's Bench, Common Pleas, or Exchequer in England or Ireland; and thereupon such Judge shall make an Order for the Transportation of such Offender in conformity with such Notification, and shall also do all such other Acts consequent upon the same as such Judge is authorized to do by any Act in force touching the Transportation of other Offenders; and the Persons in whose Custody such Offender shall at that Time be, and all other Persons whatsoever whom the said Order may concern, shall be bound to obey and shall be assistant in the Execution thereof, and shall be liable to the same Punishment for Disobedience, or for interrupting the Execution of the same, as if the Order had been made under the Authority of any such Act as aforesaid; and every Person so ordered to be transported shall be subject to every Provision made by Law and in force concerning Persons convicted of any Crime and under Sentence of Transportation; and from the Time when such Order of Transportation shall be made, every Act now in force touching the Escape of Felons shall apply to such Offender, and to all Persons aiding, abetting, contriving, or assisting in any Escape or intended Escape of any such Offender; and the Justice or Baron who who shall make any Order of Transportation as aforesaid shall direct the Notification of His Majesty's Pleasure, and his own Order made thereupon, to be filed and kept of Record in the Office of the Clerk of the Crown of the Court of King's Bench; and the said Clerk shall have a Fee of Two Shillings and Sixpence only for filing the same, and shall, on Application, deliver a Certificate in Writing (not taking more than Two Shillings and Sixpence for the same) to such Offender, or to any Person applying in his or in His Majesty's Behalf, shewing the Christian and Surname of such Offender, his Offence, the Place where the Court was held before whom he was convicted, and the Conditions on which the Order of Transportation was given; which Certificate shall be sufficient Proof of the Conviction and Sentence of such Offender, and also of the Terms on which such Order for his Transportation was given, in any Court and in any Proceeding wherein it may be necessary to inquire into the same. nies. XVIII. And be enacted, That whenever any Person convicted Transportation of Desertion is to be transported from the East Indies, or from from the Coloany Part of His Majesty's Foreign Dominions, either in pursuance of the original Sentence of a Court-martial or on Commutation of Capital Punishment, a similar Notification shall be made by the Officer commanding in chief His Majesty's Forces at the Station, or in his Absence by the Adjutant General for the Time being, to some Judge of One of the Supreme Courts of Judicature in the East Indies, or Chief Justice, or some other Judge, as the Case may be, in any Part of His Majesty's Foreign Dominions, who shall make Order for the Transportation or intermediate Custody of such Offender, in such Manner and to or in such Place as shall be specified in any Directions given to such Chief Justice or Judge, in relation to any such Offender, by One of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, and the necessary Proceedings shall be taken according to such Order for the Transportation or intermediate Custody of such Offender; and all Acts in force in such Place touching other Offenders to be transported shall in all Respects apply as well to the Offender himself so to be transported as to all other Persons whatsoever therein concerned. XIX. And be it enacted, That all Crimes and Offences which have been committed against any Act for punishing Mutiny and Desertion, and for the better Payment of the Army and their Quarters, or against any of the Articles of War made and established by virtue of the same, may, during the Continuance of this Act, be inquired of and punished in like Manner as if they had been committed against this Act; and every Warrant for holding any Court-martial under any former Act shall remain in full Force notwithstanding the Expiration of such Act; and all Proceedings of any Court-martial upon any Trial begun under the Authority of such former Act shall not be discontinued by the Expiration of the same; provided that no Person shall be liable to be tried and punished for any Offence against any of the said Acts or Articles of War which shall appear to have been committed more than Three Years before the issuing of the Commission or Warrant for such Trial, unless the Person accused, by reason of his having absented himself, or of some other manifest Impediment, shall not have been amenable to Justice within that Period, 10 GEO. IV. C in Offences against former Mutiny Acts may be tried under this Act. Subsequent Enlistment no Protection from Punishment for Desertion. Apprehension of Deserters. in which Case such Person shall be liable to be tried at any Time not exceeding Two Years after the Impediment shall have ceased. XX. And be it enacted, That every Soldier who shall desert from His Majesty's Service shall be liable to all the Pains and Penalties imposed by this Act for every such Offence committed by him, notwithstanding his having again enlisted into His Majesty's Service; and every Soldier of right belonging to any Corps from which he may have originally deserted may be tried for deserting from any other Corps in which he may afterwards have enlisted, or from His Majesty's Service, if he shall not after such subsequent Enlisting have been placed in any Corps, or may be tried for any Crime committed by him while serving therein, notwithstanding it shall be known that he had previously belonged to some other Corps or Party, and had not been discharged therefrom; and if such Person shall be claimed by such other Corps or Party, and be proceeded against as a Deserter therefrom, his subsequent Desertion from any One or more Corps in which he may have unwarrantably enlisted may be given in Evidence as an Aggravation of his Crime, previous Notice being always given to such Deserter of the Intention to produce such Evidence upon his Trial. XXI. And be it enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Constable of any Place where any Person reasonably suspected to be a Deserter shall be found, or of any adjoining Place, and if no such Constable can be immediately met with, then for any Officer or Soldier in His Majesty's Service, to apprehend, or cause such suspected Person to be apprehended, and to cause him to be brought before any Justice living in or near such Place, and acting for the same or any adjoining County, who hath hereby Power to examine such suspected Person; and if by his Confession, or the Testimony of One or more Witnesses upon Oath, or by the Knowledge of such Justice, it shall appear that such suspected Person is a Soldier, and ought to be with the Corps to which he belongs, such Justice shall forthwith cause him to be conveyed to some public Prison in such Place, or if there be no public Prison in such Place, then, at the Discretion of such Justice of the Peace, to the nearest or most convenient public Prison in the same or any next adjoining County, or to the Provost Marshal, in case such Deserter shall be apprehended within the City or Liberties of Dublin or Places adjacent; and such Justice shall transmit an Account thereof, in the Form prescribed in the Schedule annexed to this Act, to the Secretary at War, or, if the Deserter be apprehended in Ireland, to the Chief Secretary, to the End that such Person may be proceeded against according to Law; and such Justice shall also send to the Secretary at War a Report, stating the Names of the Persons by whom the Deserter was apprehended and secured; and the Secretary at War shall transmit to such Justice an Order for the Payment to such Persons of such Sum not exceeding Forty Shillings, as the Secretary at War shall be satisfied they are entitled to, according to the true Intent and Meaning of this Act: Provided also, that no Fee or Reward shall be taken by any Justice, or his Clerk, in respect of any Information, Commitment, or Report as aforesaid. XXII. And |