Army and Air Force (Annual) Act 1952
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
Army and Air Force (Annual) Act , 1952
(15 & 16 Geo. 6 & 1 Eliz. 2) CHAPTER 24
An Act to provide, until the end of the month of July, nineteen hundred and fifty-three, for the discipline and regulation of the Army and the Air Force and to amend certain enactments relating to the armed forces of the Crown.
Whereas the raising or keeping of a standing army within the United Kingdom in time of peace, unless it be with the consent of Parliament, is against law:
And whereas it is adjudged necessary by Her Majesty and this present Parliament that a body of land forces should be continued for the safety of the United Kingdom and the defence of the possessions of Her Majesty's Crown, and that the whole number of such forces should consist of five hundred and fifty-five thousand:
And whereas it is adjudged necessary that a body of air forces should be continued for the purposes aforesaid, and that the whole number of such forces should consist of three hundred and fifteen thousand:
And whereas it is also judged necessary for the safety of the United Kingdom and the defence of the possessions of this realm that a body of Royal Marine forces should be employed in Her Majesty's fleet and naval service under the direction of the Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom, or the Commissioners for executing the office of Lord High Admiral aforesaid:
And whereas the said marine forces may frequently be quartered or be on shore, or be sent to do duty or be on board transport ships or vessels, merchant ships or vessels, or other ships or vessels, or they may be under other circumstances in which they will not be subject to the laws relating to the government of Her Majesty's forces by sea:
And whereas no man can be forejudged of life or limb, or subjected in time of peace to any kind of punishment within this realm, by martial law, or in any other manner than by the judgment of his peers and according to the known and established laws of this realm; yet, nevertheless, it being requisite, for the retaining all the before-mentioned forces, and other persons subject to military law or to the Air Force Act, in their duty, that an exact discipline be observed and that persons belonging to the said forces who mutiny, or stir up sedition, or desert Her Majesty's service, or are guilty of crimes and offences to the prejudice of good order and military or air force discipline, be brought to a more exemplary and speedy punishment than the usual forms of the law will allow:
And whereas the Army Act and the Air Force Act will expire in the year nineteen hundred and fifty-two, on the following days:—
Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:—
1 Short title.
1. This Act may be cited as theArmy and Air Force (Annual) Act, 1952.
2 Army Act and Air Force Act to be in force forspecified times.
(1) The Army Act and the Air Force Act shall be and remain in force during the periods hereinafter mentioned, and no longer, unless otherwise provided by Parliament, that is to say:—
(a ) within Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, from the thirtieth day of April, nineteen hundred and fifty-two, to the thirty-first day of July, nineteen hundred and fifty-three, both inclusive; and
(b ) elsewhere, whether within or without Her Majesty's dominions, from the thirty-first day of July, nineteen hundred and fifty-two, to the thirty-first day of July, nineteen hundred and fifty-three, both inclusive.
(2) The Army Act and the Air Force Act, while in force, shall apply to persons subject to military law or to the Air Force Act, as the case may be, whether within or without Her Majesty's dominions.
(3) A person subject to military law or to the Air Force Act shall not be exempted from the provisions of the Army Act or the Air Force Act by reason only that the number of the forces for the time being in the service of Her Majesty, exclusive of the marine forces, is either greater or less than the numbers hereinbefore mentioned.
Amendments of the Army and Air Force Acts, consequential Amendments of other Acts, Repeals and Savings
Part I
Amendments of the Army Act applicable also (subject to Modifications) to the Air Force Act
3 Amendment of definition of ‘active service’.
(1) Subsection (1) of section one hundred and eighty-nine of the Army Act (which defines the expression ‘on active service’) is hereby repealed, and in section one hundred and ninety of that Act there shall be inserted the following definition:—
‘'active service', in relation to a person subject to military law, means service in or with a force which is engaged in operations against an enemy or is engaged in a foreign country in operations for the protection of life or property or is in military occupation of a foreign country’.
(2) Subsection (1) of section one hundred and eighty-nine of the Air Force Act (which defines the expression ‘on active service’) is hereby repealed, and in section one hundred and ninety of that Act there shall be inserted a definition of ‘active service’ in other respects similar to the definition hereinbefore set out but modified by the substitution, for the words ‘military law’, of the words ‘this Act’.
4 Amendment of definition of ‘enemy’.
4. In the definition of ‘enemy’ in paragraph (20) of section one hundred and ninety of the Army Act and paragraph (20) of section one hundred and ninety of the Air Force Act, for the words ‘and pirates’ there shall be substituted the words ‘, pirates and all persons engaged in armed operations against any of Her Majesty's forces’.
5 Power of certain officers to take affidavits and declarations.
(1) At the end of Part IV of the Army Act there shall be inserted the following section:—
174B
(1) An officer of the regular forces of a rank not below that of major (hereinafter referred to as an ‘authorised officer’) may, at a place outside the United Kingdom, take affidavits and declarations from any of the following persons, that is to say, persons subject to military law and persons not so subject who are employed by or are in the service of, or accompany, Her Majesty's troops or any portion thereof.
(2) A document purporting to have subscribed thereto the signature of an authorised officer in testimony of an affidavit or declaration being taken before him in pursuance of this section and containing in the jurat or attestation a statement of the date on which and the place at which the affidavit or declaration was taken and of the full name and rank of that officer shall be admitted in evidence without proof of the signature being the signature of that officer or of the facts so stated’.
(2) At the end of Part IV of the Air Force Act there shall be inserted a section in other respects similar to the section hereinbefore set out but modified by the substitution, for the words ‘the regular forces’, of the words ‘the regular air force’, for the word ‘major’, of the words ‘squadron leader’, for the words ‘military law’, of the words ‘this Act’ and for the words ‘Her Majesty's troops’, of the words ‘Her Majesty's air force’.
6 Substitution of references to the Queen.
6. Throughout the Army Act and the Air Force Act for the words ‘His Majesty’, ‘His Majesty's’ and ‘King's’ there shall be substituted respectively the words ‘Her Majesty’, ‘Her Majesty's’ and ‘Queen's’; and there shall also be made in those Acts such other alterations of pronouns as are, in consequence of the substitutions effected by the foregoing provisions of this section, required by the rules of grammar.
Part II
Amendments of the Army Act
Enlistment
7 New provisions with respect to enlistment.
(1) Sections seventy-six to seventy-nine, eighty-four and eighty-six of the Army Act are hereby repealed, and in lieu thereof the following sections shall be inserted at the beginning of Part II of that Act:—
76.
(1) A person may be enlisted to serve Her Majesty as a soldier of the regular forces in accordance with one or other of the following provisions, namely—
(a ) for a term of twenty-two years of army service beginning with the date of his attestation, with such a right as is mentioned in the next following section to determine that service at the expiration of the period of three years beginning with that date or of any of the successive periods of three years, subject, however, in the cases mentioned in that section, to his becoming liable as therein mentioned to serve in the reserve for the periods so mentioned;
(b ) for such term (not exceeding twelve years) as may be prescribed, beginning with the date of his attestation, being—
(i) a term wholly of army service; or
(ii) a term consisting, as to so much thereof as may be prescribed, of army service and, as to the residue thereof, of service in the reserve;
(c ) in the case of a person who, on the date of his attestation, has not attained the age of seventeen years and six months, for a term ending with the expiration of such period (not exceeding twelve years) beginning with the date on which he attains the age of eighteen years as may be prescribed, being—
(i) a term wholly of army service; or
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