Military Law and Issues
| Author | Daniel Brannen, Richard Hanes, Elizabeth Shaw |
| Pages | 1041-1045 |
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The American military includes the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines. Military law applies to people who work in the military. It differs in many ways from civilian law, which governs regular citizens. Civilian law tries to maintain peace by resolving disputes and punishing criminal activity. Military law strives to promote order, morale, and discipline.
Like civilian law, military law has its origins in Roman law dating back to the first century B.C. Civil and military law in the Roman empire were part of one system. In the eleventh century, William the Conqueror introduced Roman law into England. As the military grew over the next few centuries, so did the desire to create separate systems for civil and military law. In 1649, England created a separate national system for military justice.
The American colonies that would form the United States created a military justice system even before declaring independence. Just weeks after American and British troops clashed at Lexington and Concord in
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April 1775, the Second Continental Congress formed an American army. Later that year, George Washington helped write the Articles of War. The colonies based the Articles of War on the military justice systems of the British and ancient Roman empires, which enjoyed great success as powerful empires.
The U.S. Constitution, which the United States adopted in 1787, made the military subject to civilian control through the president and congress. The president is commander-in-chief of the armed forces. That gives him ultimate authority for operating the military in both peacetime and war. Congress is responsible for raising, supporting, and making rules for the armed forces. Congress also has the power to declare war.
The main goal of the Articles of War was to maintain discipline in the military forces. For that purpose it covered military crimes such as mutiny, or rebelling against military authority. Originally the Articles did not cover regular crimes such as murder, rape, and theft. In 1863, Congress revised the Articles to cover regular crimes, but only in times of war or rebellion.
In 1950, Congress replaced the Articles of War with the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The Uniform Code combined different laws for the various military branches into one code of 140 articles. The Code governs criminal and other unlawful military conduct in both peacetime and war. It...
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