the accused and all witnesses to Colombo for trial by general court martial.

The Department of State was contacted and through it the Consul General in Colombo was requested to make a report of the incident. In the State Department telegram to the Consul General that officer was informed that under the Visiting Forces Act the United States Navy had the right to try the accused but, if it chose to do so, the trial must under the terms of the Act take place in a location convenient for the Ceylonese prosecution witnesses.

The reply of the American Consul General and the report of the Commanding Officer of the USS "BLANK" developed the following facts:

(a) The accused was on liberty in Colombo and, after an altercation in a local hotel, was apprehended by civilian police who, following an identification parade in which he was pointed out as the guilty party, charged him with the knifing of the Ceylonese police officers.

The

(b) The American Consul General, at the request of the Commanding Officer of the USS "BLANK", proposed to the Ceylonese authorities that the accused be remanded to naval custody for trial by court martial. local police acceded to this request with some reluctance (although by agreement they were required to do so) and as time went by, kept inquiring of the Consul as to the nature of the punishment meted out by the court martial. Local feeling appeared to be running high. (c) The Commanding Officer, at a preliminary' mast investigation, recommended a general court martial for the accused, but unfortunately was faced with an immediate sailing date and the "BLANK" departed before any trial was held.

While the Navy Department did not concur in the recommendation of the Commander, Naval Forces, Philippines to turn the accused over to the Ceylonese authorities for trial, it could certainly sympathize with his position. About all he had in his custody was the accused and a recommendation for a general court. The prosecution witnesses were in Colombo and the defense witnesses on a ship engaging in fleet exercises off Japan. There were only three choices open to him. He could attempt to try the accused in Manila by ordering the defense witnesses back from the ship and transporting the

prosecution witnesses from Ceylon; but such a course would require the consent of the Ceylonese authorities in view of the provision of the Visiting Forces Act above cited. As a second choice he could move the accused and the defense witnesses back to Colombo for trial, or, finally, he could recommend to the Navy Department (as he did) that the accused be turned over to the Ceylonese for trial. Depositions from the prosecution witnesses could not be used satisfactorily because of the limitation of sentence imposed by Section 454 of Naval Courts and Boards which restricts confinement in such cases to one year.

The Navy Department decided that since trial in Manila was impracticable and that for policy reasons it did not wish to turn the accused back to the Ceylonese for trial, the "BLANK" or other naval vessel designated by Cin acFlt should be ordered to Colombo and that a general court be convened on board that ship in Colombo. He was acquitted, presumably because the identification parade had been improperly held in that only four colored seamen had been included amongst the twelve members of the parade, thus jeopardizing the accused's right to a parade composed of persons similar in color and physiognomy. A local attorney ably aided naval counsel in developing this defense.

It would seem that the Commanding Officer might have avoided much expense to the Navy in money, time and personnel had he sent, at the time of the incident, dispatches to his operational commander and the Navy Department, reporting the facts and requesting permission to delay his sailing pending receipt of instructions from the Navy Department. It would appear to be an empty gesture to guarantee to local foreign authorities that a man can and will be tried by a naval court martial when by the very fact of sailing and the consequent lack of prosecution witnesses such trial is made practically impossible.

Personnel Transfers

BIVENS, Cdr. William J. - from duty as Attorney General American Samoa to General Line School, Newport, R.I., as instructor. TAYLOR, Lt.Cdr. Edward J. from Coal Mine

Regulations Counsel

The office of the Regulations Counsel has three basic functions: (a) to pass upon the legal questions involved in all proposed changes in Navy Regulations, Bureau Manuals and similar publications; (b) to keep up to date Laws Relating to the Navy, Annotated, and material published by the Navy in the Federal Register, to compile and edit Court Martial Orders and to distribute publications of the Office of the Judge Advocate General; (c) to service the law libraries maintained by the Navy.

Of interest at the present time are three projects which this Division is undertaking, or in which it is participating. Navy Regulations is being completely revised by a board convened for that purpose and for which the Chief of this Division is counsel, A complete revision of LRNA is in progress within the Division, with the objective of converting it to a loose-leaf system with a new type of index. The changes planned will obviate bulletins and supplements and permit it to be more easily utilized and more readily kept current. Under the Administrative Procedure Act the Navy is required to publish in the Federal Register a substantially

complete statement of the elements of its organization and procedures which are of interest to the public. A revision and recodification of all this material is now in progress.

The Office library, now enlarged to 25,000 volumes, recently was moved to larger quarters in the Navy Department. An article on the contents of the library and the functions of library personnel will appear in the September issue of the JAG JOURNAL.

Legislative Counsel

The Legislative Counsel of the Office of the Judge Advocate General of the Navy is charged with the drafting of all legislation proposed by the Department, with the exception of appropriation bills; the examination and reference to interested offices and bureaus of the Department of all bills and resolutions introduced in the Congress; and with the preparation of reports, at the request of the Congress or upon a voluntary basis, on bills and resolutions introduced in the Congress.

It is also the responsibility of the Legislative Counsel to arrange for the appearance of representatives of the Navy Department as witnesses before the various Congressional Committees and to advise all offices and bureaus of the Navy Department of the status of various legislative items. The office of the Legislative Counsel prepares and distributes daily a digest of items appearing in the Congressional Record which are of interest to the Department.

JAG Report to
Sec Nav

The Judge Advocate General on 17 July sent to the Secretary of the Navy a report on Office activities for the fiscal year 1947. In general, the report reflected the Navy's transition from wartime to peacetime status. The demobilization program is reflected in the decrease in courts martial and legal assistance.

"Courts Martial--... there was a substantial reduction in the number of courts during

fiscal 1947.

... in General Courts Martial ... the reduction was 61.3% (from 20,509 in 1946 to 7,931 in 1947. There were 50.7% fewer Summary Courts Martial from 58,766 to 28,959), and 48.7% fewer Deck Courts (from 75, 508 to 38,733)." The report does not relate these figures to the personnel decrease, although there can be no doubt that it is an important factor.

"War Crimes-- The Navy Division (JAG) of the National War Crimes Office ... has participated in war crimes prosecutions in Germany and Japan, the Philippines and other Pacific islands, particularly Kwajalein and Guam. Seventy-eight Japanese accused of atrocities against United States naval 'personnel have been prosecuted thus far, resulting in 74 convictions, with death sentences to 28. Six of this number have already been executed... Trials are in progress at Tokyo and Guam. "'

"Tort Claims-- This field of claims against the Government was opened for the first time by the Federal Tort Claims Act of the 79th Congress."

"Admiralty-- Two hundred forty three claims, aggregating $334,987 were paid; 72 claims in the amount of $136,668 were collected."

"Taxation--... During the year 322 such matters were disposed of, resulting in tax abatements and refunds to the Navy of approximately $2,000,000. Tax exemptions obtained either through administrative rulings or state legal actions created further savings which will approximate $4,900,000, annually..."

"International Law--...prepared the Chinese and Philippine Military Assistance Agreements, Philippine Base Agreement, and has worked on a new Canadian Jurisdiction agreement and a revision of the British Base Lease Agreement. ---drafted legislation... providing a civil government and an organic act for Guam. The drafting of similar legislation for American Samoa is contemplated. ... Processed 815 foreign claims for a total of approximately $375,000, and 1,217 personal injury, death and property claims on Guam."

"Administrative Law--Opinions were prepared on a variety of pre-existing and postwar legal problems... The number of opinions prepared each month in fiscal 1947 averaged

45 (compared with 42 monthly in 1946)..."

"Legal Assistance--... assisted 1852 service personnel and dependents in the Washington area...aided legal officers who were doing similar work in the field. Extensive liaison was maintained with the American Bar Association and other groups...

"Personnel--...the program for selecting 300 Naval Reserve lawyers for transfer to the regular Navy as law specialists was continued...'

Clearance Section

The Clearance Section of the Office of the Judge Advocate General is charged with furnishing liaison between the Navy Department and the Committees of Congress when acting in an investigative capacity. The office was established under the CNO during the war when the multitudinous activities of the Truman Committee required a simple and direct channel between the Department and the Committee. The office was transferred to the jurisdiction of the JAG in January of 1946 as a means of consolidating Congressional liaison.

Broadly speaking, all Congressional, investigation is directly linked to the legislative process by Constitutional law. However, in actual practice, from the point of view of the Navy Department, there is a sharp line of demarcation between the purely investigative and the purely legislative functions of the Congress. As a result, there is an equally sharp line of demarcation between the duties of this section and those of the Legislative Counsel. The two sections do, of course, maintain close liaison and keep each other continuously advised as to their activities. Their common superiors are the JAG and Assistant JAG.

The precise duties of this Section may be divided for convenience into two broad categories. First, those that are purely mechanical. These include receiving requests from the Congress for information, obtaining the information from the pertinent source within the Department or in the field, placing it in convenient form and forwarding it; arranging for interviews between members of the staffs of committees

and pertinent officials within the Department; arranging for inspection trips by committees to various field activities; arranging for the appearances of witnesses at hearings; observing and reporting all hearings in which the Department may be interested; and, probably most important of all such duties, watching the press and all other available sources of information for signs of possible forthcoming investigations and taking preparatory action. An officer, unexpectedly seeing a man from JAG Clearance come into his door, automatically knows that there is bad news in the offing.

The second category of duty may be defined as serving as "counsel" for the Department in all matters of Congressional investigation. This duty requires that the personnel of the section become as well informed on the subject matter of the investigation as the circumstances permit; that the technical information involved be placed in a form which can be readily understood by the Congressional committee and its staff, and by the press; that assistance be given in the writing of prepared statements; that advice be given as to presentation and the selection of witnesses, and so on. It is obvious that in carrying out these duties, the personnel of the section must rely on general experience in government and public relations matters; broad knowledge of the naval establishment; knowledge of the general technique of the particular committee involved; personal knowledge of Congressional members and members of the staff; and, far more important than all else, the hearty cooperation of naval confreres.

Probably the section's greatest claim to fame within the Office of the JAG is that the last two Officers-in-Charge have not been lawyers. Suffice it to say that legal advice is constantly and readily available within not more than twenty paces.

This section was born of the war. It has been hoped therefore, that with the final liquidation of the effects of the war on the Navy Department it may be done away wi th. However, it is probable that the realization of that hope will depend, not so much on liquidation of the war effort, as on the future propensities of the Congress to investigate naval matters. That is a fit subject for a crystal ball.

JAG Journal Policy

Whether or not it is achieved in this first issue, the editorial policy of THE JAG JOURNAL has been established as one of informality. For this reason its pages are not citable before Navy courts or boards, yet the information contained herein will be completely accurate and can be relied upon. Court Martial Orders and Opinions of the Judge Advocate General will continue to be the authoritative sources of citable decisions and legal precedent.

This informality should serve as a professional stimulus to the Navy's career lawyers; and, at the same time, create an interest in Navy law among those in our farflung naval establishment who, although not trained in the law, by force of circumstances are required at times to administer it. Most legal publications would not serve this purpose because they are published for the professional lawyer. Although our skilled lawyers find them of great value, their approach is so technical as to discourage the unitiated, rather than to stimulate interest.

To the "lawyers by accident", then, this will be an aid to the better understanding of their duties; and it should be refreshing to the experienced lawyers to have some unnecessary verbal foliage stripped away to let the sunlight shine through. This really can be done with profit to all, and without doing violence to established legal principles. Law, at its root, is simply an orderly process of dealing with human rights and human relations. The danger in the over-use of set forms and technical terms lies in the possibility that we may forget that our duties require us to deal with real people and their very real, personal problems.

This is not permission to dispose of law libraries, nor license to abandon the use of technical language, since precise language, in most cases, is an absolute requisite for clarity and for accuracy of results. It is a suggestion that humanizing the law should be your aim, as it is the aim of THE JAG JOURNAL.