apply to a soldier who has gone through the form of attestation, Ch. X. but whose attestation is illegal, because after three months no advantage can be taken of any invalidity in the attestation (a). An of appren 25. If an apprentice in the United Kingdom, who was bound Enlistment when under sixteen by a regular indenture for at least four years, tices. enlists while still under twenty-one, he can be claimed by his master, through a proceeding before justices, but not otherwise. apprentice who is so claimed is not liable afterwards to serve under his enlistment. The claim must be made within one month after the apprentice left his master's service. The apprentice is liable to, and on demand of his commanding officer must, be tried by the justice before whom the proceeding is taken for the offence of making a false statement on his attestation. With the above exception, and a similar one for indentured labourers in the colonies, a master cannot claim his servant who has enlisted (5). 26. An enlistment is a valid contract, although entered into by a Of minors. person under twenty-one, who by the ordinary rules of law, except I where modified by statute, cannot, as a general rule, contract any engagement (c). Act of 27. Though the Act of Settlement (d) which prohibits aliens of aliens. holding any office, civil or military, does not in terms apply to Settlement. soldiers, and though there was no statutory prohibition of the enlistment of foreigners, it seems to have been considered that the Crown had no authority either to enlist aliens for service in the United Kingdom, and consequently to punish them for desertion, or to billet them when in this country (e). enlist 28. Statutory power was therefore taken in 1757, and again in Limited 1782, to quarter foreign troops in this kingdom (ƒ), and in 1794 and power to in subsequent years statutory power was taken by the Crown to aliens. enlist aliens, even though they were to serve abroad (g). This was subject to the conditions that they were not to be brought into the United Kingdom, except with a view to operations abroad; that if so brought they were not to go more thau five miles from the sea coast, and that there were never to be more than 5,000 men in the kingdom. A similar provision was made in 1800 (h), and during the Crimean War in 1854 (1), but in the latter case the only restrictions were that the number of men brought into the United Kingdom was not to exceed 10,000, and that they were not to be billeted. The illegality of the enlistment of aliens has also been recognised in other Acts (k), till at last, in 1837, it was enacted that, with the permission of the Crown (given in each case), an alien might be enlisted, but the number of aliens in any corps was not to exceed the proportion of one to every fifty natural-born subjects, and this pro (a) Army Act, s. 100. (b) Army Act, ss. 96, 97. (c) See cases cited in Clode, Mil. Forces, ii. p. 31, R. v. Rotherfield Greys, 1 B. & C., pp. 349, 350. See also R. v. Hardwick, 5 B. & Ald. 176. (d) 12 & 13 Will. III, c. 2, s. 3. An officer does, but a private does not, hold an office. (e) Clode, Mil. Forces, i. pp. 89, 90, 487; ii. pp. 35, 431-435. Foreign troops seem to have been received in or brought into the kingdom in the time of Anne and Geo. I. Report on recruiting. 1867 Parl. P., 215. (f) See 30 Geo. II, c. 2; 22 Geo. III, c. 25. (a) See 34 Geo. III, c. 43. The Act 29 Geo. II. c. 5, recited the enlistment of foreigners in America, and gave power to commission them, but not to enlist. This was given by the amending Act, 38 Geo. III, c 13. (k) 39 & 40 Geo. III, c. 100. (6) 18 & 19 Vict. c. 2. (k) See 44 Geo. III, c. 75; and 46 Geo. III, c. 23, continued by 55 Geo. III, c. 85. See also the provisions on the amalgamation of the Indian Army, 24 & 25 Vict. c. 74 s. 2. Ch. X. vision has been re-enacted in the Army Act (a). An alien so enlisted is by the Army Act made incapable of becoming an officer. A relaxation in favour of negroes and persons of colour was originally made in consequence of negroes captured in slavers being taken into the service of the Crown, and has been continued to legalise the recruiting of natives on the West Coast of Africa for service in the West India regiments and of Lascars in the East; and the relaxation has recently been extended to inhabitants of British protectorates in order to enable troops raised in the East and West African protectorates to serve outside their boundaries (b). It must also be recollected that under the Naturalization Act, 1870, a Vict., c. 14. naturalized alien has the same privileges as a British subject, and therefore is capable of being enlisted to serve His Majesty. 33 & 34 Discharge. Power of Crown to discharge soldiers. Certificate of discharge. Conveyance home of soldiers on discharge. Disposal of lunatic soldiers. 29. The terms of the enlistment of a soldier, since he has been enlisted directly by the Crown, have always been to serve the Sovereign so long as his services are required, within the period for which he agrees to serve; consequently the Sovereign has always had power to discharge soldiers. But a soldier cannot be discharged except by order of the Sovereign or under some statutory power, such as the sentence of a court-martial, to which is added in the Army Act, an "order of the competent military authority" (c). 30. A soldier on his discharge is entitled to receive a certificate of discharge, so as to show that he is properly discharged and is not a deserter. In addition to the certificate of discharge, he also receives a certificate of character, showing his conduct, character, and cause of discharge. Until he is duly discharged he remains subject to military law. Discharge has been at different times regarded as a reward or as a punishment (d). When the service was for life, discharge was in many cases the highest object of a soldier's desires, and even now in a time of scarcity of labour and consequent high wages it may be a material advantage to him. There is no reference in the present law to discharge as a reward. On the other hand, discharge with ignominy, or discharge towards the end of a man's service shortly before he becomes entitled to receive pension, cannot but have the effect of a punishment. 31. A soldier enlisted in the United Kingdom is entitled if, on the completion of his service, he is abroad, to be sent to the United Kingdom, free of expense, for his discharge; and a soldier enlisted in the United Kingdom, and discharged there, is entitled to be sent free of expense from the place where he is discharged to the place where he was attested, or to his residence, if his conveyance there costs no more (e). In no other case has a soldier any statutory right to be sent free of expense to any place on discharge, though, in some cases, he may be allowed a free conveyance as a matter of favour (ƒ). 32. If a soldier is a lunatic, a Secretary of State or an officer deputed by him for the purpose may send him on his discharge, and also his wife and child, to the workhouse of the parish or union to which he is chargeable, and if he is a dangerous lunatic may send (a) 7 Will. IV & 1 Vict. c. 29; Army Act, s. 95 (1). (6) Army Act, s. 95. (e) Army Act, s. 92. For definition of the competent military authority, see Army Act, ss. 101 (1), 190 (32), also Rule 128. For regulations as to discharge, see K.R., paras. 376-412. (d) See Clode. Mil. Forces ii. pp. 43-47. (2) Army Act. s. 90. The old provisions enabling discharged soldiers and the wires and children of soldiers ordered abroad to obtain from a justice of the peace or mayor a certificate entitling them to beg their way home have been repealed. (f) See Allowance Regulations, para. 339 (a), for the present practice. him to the lunatic asylum for lunatics chargeable to that parish or Ch. X. union (a). 33. The only power, except with the soldier's consent, of sending Transfer to him into the reserve before the stipulated time is on occasion of reserve. his being unfit to serve abroad, or of his regiment being ordered abroad shortly before the expiration of the time of his service with the colours (b). A soldier who is transferred to the Army Reserve is entitled, on transfer, to free conveyance to his place of attestation or selected place of residence (if not involving greater cost) in the United Kingdom, but has no claim to free conveyance to any place on final discharge from the army after completing his service in the reserve (c). relation to 34. Offences in relation to enlistment, when committed by Offences in persons who are at the time or thereafter become subject to enlistment. military law, are punishable by military law under ss. 13, 32-34 of the Army Act. A man renders himself liable to punishment not exceeding imprisonment who, after being discharged with ignominy, or as incorrigible and worthless, or for misconduct, or on account of conviction for felony or a sentence of penal servitude, or dismissed with disgrace from the Navy, enlists without disclosing the circumstances of his discharge or dismissal. A recruiter who enlists any man whom he has reason to believe to have been so discharged or dismissed, also renders himself liable to imprisonment. The making of a false answer to any question on attestation renders the offender liable to imprisonment on the sentence either of a civil court of summary jurisdiction for the place where the offence was committed, or where the offender may happen to be, or of a court-martial (d); and any person who uses, or gives for use, for the purposes of enlistment a false statement as to character or previous employment is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds (e). No one may enlist soldiers unless duly authorised, and any person who does so is liable to a fine not exceeding twenty pounds (ƒ). A man who, while belonging to one corps, enlists in the same or any other corps, is guilty of fraudulent enlistment, and can be punished for it; but as he has made two engagements he can be held to either engagement, and is thus liable to serve, as the military authorities direct, in accordance with the terms of his original attestation, or those of his new attestation, and (unless he has enlisted in the corps to which he already belongs) in either of the corps to which he has been appointed to serve (g). (a) Army Act, s. 91. (b) Army Act, s. 89. (c) ArmyAct, s. 90. See also K.R. 406-408. For the further benefits in this respect now enjoyed by reservists, see Allowance Regulations, para. 340 (a). (d) Army Act, ss. 33, 99, and Notes. (e) Seamen's and Soldiers' False Characters Act, 1906, (6 Edw. 7, c. 5), s. 2. (9) For details see K.R., para. 522. CHAPTER XI. CONSTITUTION OF THE MILITARY FORCES OF THE CROWN. Introductory. 1. The military forces of the Crown are divided by the Army Act into the Regular forces and the Auxiliary forces. The Regular forces may be divided into- (1.) British forces; (2.) Indian forces; 2. The Indian forces consist of regiments permanently stationed in India, and formed almost entirely from natives of India. The officers and men of these forces, who are natives of India, are subject to the Indian Articles of War wherever they are serving, and are only to a limited extent subject to the Army Act (a). Besides the natives of India there are Europeans serving as officers and persons of certain degrees of European descent serving as noncommissioned officers, hospital apprentices, or otherwise, who, though forming part of the Indian forces, are subject to British and not to Indian military law. The enlistment of Europeans for these forces, except for medical or other special service, is prohibited (b). Commissions on the unattached list for appointment to the Indian Army may be given to cadets who have passed] through Sandhurst. If it is required to supplement this direct supply, officers of the British forces are, if qualified according to the regulations for the time being in force, eligible for commissions, and if commissioned are transferred permanently to the Indian Army. Officers are employed, according as the Government] of India may direct, in any military or civil employment, irrespective of their ranks in the Indian Army. Such officers, while holding↓ civil employments, cannot assume a military command, but continue to receive promotion in military rank in the ordinary course; and on accepting any military appointment they are entitled to take military command (c). 3. The Colonial forces are of two classes, namely, the forces raised by the government of a colony, and the forces raised in a colony by direct order of His Majesty to serve as auxiliary to, and in fact to form part for the time being of, the regular forces. The first class of Colonial forces-those raised by the government of a colony-are only subject to the Army Act when serving with part of His (a) Army Act, s. 1-0. The Indian Articles of War (Act No. 5 of 1869; see also Act No. 12 of 1894) provide that the military law enacted by those articles shall not apply to any British-born subject of Her Majesty, or any legitimate Christian lineal descendant of such subject, whether in the paternal or maternal line, but all such persons belonging to Her Majesty's Indian Army shall be triable and punishable as if they belonged to Her Majesty's British forces." The expression "Natives of India," for the purposes of the Army Act and of this chapter, means all persons belonging to His Majesty's Indian Army who are triable by Indian and not by English military law. (b) 23 & 24 Vict. c. 100; Army Act, s. 180 (2) (h) and note, (c) Royal Warrant of 16 January, 1868, as amended, Majesty's regular forces, and then only so far as the colonial law Ch. XI. has not provided for their government and discipline, and subject to the exceptions specified in the general orders of the general officer commanding the forces with which they are serving. The Army Act, however (s. 177), provides that the colonial law may extend to the forces, although beyond the limits of the colony where they are raised. 1 The second class of Colonial forces-of which the West India regiment, the Royal Malta Artillery, the West African regiment, the non-Europeans of the Fortress Companies, Royal Engineers, at Hong Kong and Sierra Leone, and the local companies of Royal Artillery in Hong Kong, Ceylon, and elsewhere, are examples (a)-is referred to by ss. 175 (4) and 176 (3) of the Army Act. Their pay and maintenance are voted annually by the Imperial Parliament, and they are in fact Imperial forces although serving in a colony. The Royal Malta Artillery (before 1889 styled the Malta Fencible Artillery) are declared by the Army Act to be part of the regular forces, while the others are included in the regular forces by the Royal Warrant defining "Corps" but see s. 176 and note. The local companies of Royal Artillery in Hong Kong, &c., and the West India regiment are in fact enlisted to serve in any part of the world. A man may enlist in the Royal Malta Artillery either for service in Malta alone or for service in any part of the world. British Forces. British 4. The British forces require a longer notice. They consist(1) Of the Army commonly so-called, including the Reserves; forces. (2) Of the Marines. 5. The Army commonly so-called consists Constitu (1) Of cavalry, composed of four corps for the purpose of tion of enlistment (b), and divided into thirty-one regiments; "Army " in common (2) Of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, of which the mounted acceptation (3) Of the corps of Royal Engineers, divided into troops and (4) Of 157 battalions of infantry (of which nine form four (a) The local companies of Royal Artillery at Ceylon, Mauritius, Hong Kong, and Singapore have been formed into two battalions, styled respectively the CeylonMauritius, and the Hong Kong-Singapore battalions. (b) The corps of Household Cavalry, and the corps of Dragoons, Lancers, and Hussars, of the line. (c) The Militia Engineers and the Volunteer Engineers also form part of the corps of Royal Engineers. (d) Two regiments of Foot Guards have three battalions each, one regiment bas two battalions, and one has one battalion; and each of five other regiments -the Royal Fusiliers, the Worcestershire Regiment, the Middlesex Regiment, the King's Royal Rifle Corps, and the Prince Consort's Own Rifle Brigadė X (M.L.) |