Clause 144

Where any order is authorised by this Act to be made by the President, the Army Board or by any general or other officer commanding, such order may be signified by an order, instruction or letter under the hand of any officer authorised to issue orders on behalf of the President, the Army Board or such general or other officer commanding, and an order, instruction or letter purporting to be signed by any officer appearing therein to be so authorised shall be evidence of his being so authorised.

The provisions of subsection (1) shall extend to any order or direction issued under this Act in relation to a military prisoner or soldier undergoing detention, and any such order or direction shall not be held void by reason of the death or removal from office of the officer signing or ordering the issue of the same, or by reason of any defect in such order or direction, if it be alleged in such order or direction that the prisoner or soldier has been convicted, and there is a good and valid conviction to sustain the order or direction.

An order in any case if issued in the prescribed form shall be valid, but an order deviating from the prescribed form if otherwise valid shall not be rendered invalid by reason only of such deviation.

Where any military prisoner or soldier undergoing detention is for the time being in custody, whether military or civil, in any place or manner in which he might legally be kept under this Act, the custody of such prisoner or soldier shall not be deemed to be illegal only by reason of any informality or error in or as respects the order, warrant or other document, or the authority by or in pursuance whereof such prisoner or soldier was brought into or is detained in such custody, and any such order, warrant, or document may be amended accordingly.

Where a military prisoner, or a soldier undergoing detention, or a person who is subject to military law and charged with an offence, is a prisoner or soldier in military custody, and for the purpose of conveyance by sea is delivered on board a ship to the person in command of the ship or to any other person on board the ship acting under the authority of the commander, the order of the military authority which authorises the prisoner or soldier to be conveyed by sea shall be sufficient authority to such person, and to the person for the time being in command of the ship, to keep the said prisoner or soldier in custody and convey him, in accordance with the order, and the prisoner or soldier while so kept shall be deemed to be kept in military custody.