Singapore legislation
Clause 56
Clause 56
Field general courts-martial
(1)
Where a complaint is made to any officer in command of any detachment or portion of troops in any country outside Singapore, or to the commanding officer of any corps or part of a corps on active service, or to any officer in immediate command of a body of forces on active service, that an offence has been committed by any person subject to military law, then, if in the opinion of such officer it is not practicable that such offence should be tried by an ordinary general court-martial, it shall be lawful for him, although not authorised to convene general courts-martial, to convene a court-martial (in this Act referred to as “a field general court-martial”), for the trial of the person charged with such offence, subject to the following conditions: —
an officer in command of a detachment or part of troops not on active service shall not convene a field general court-martial for the trial of any person, unless that person is under his command, nor unless the offence with which the person is charged is an offence against the property or person of an inhabitant of, or resident in, the country in which the offence is alleged to have been committed;
a field general court-martial shall consist of not less than three officers, unless the officer convening the same is of opinion that three officers are not available having due regard to the service, in which case the court-martial may consist of two officers;
the convening officer may preside, but he shall, whenever he deems it practicable, appoint another officer as president, who may be of any rank, but shall, if practicable in the opinion of the convening officer, be not below the rank of captain;
where a field general court-martial consists of less than three officers, the sentence shall not exceed such field punishment as is allowed by this Act, or imprisonment for a term of two years.
(2)
Section 55, except paragraph (j) thereof, shall apply to a field general court-martial, but sentence of death shall not be passed on any person by a field general court-martial without the concurrence of all the members.
(3)
A field general court-martial may, notwithstanding the restrictions contained in this Act in respect of the trial by court-martial of civil offences within the meaning of this Act, try any person subject to military law who is under the command of the convening officer, and is charged with any such offence as is mentioned in this section, and may for such offence award any sentence which a general court-martial is competent to award for such offence:Provided always, that no sentence of any such court-martial shall be executed until confirmed as provided by this Act.