Martial Law
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X4001300211 |
| Published date | 01 April 1940 |
| Date | 01 April 1940 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Martial
Law
"
IT
is reported that a state of martial law has been declared."
When some major catastrophe befalls a
nation-civil
war,
coup
d'etat, rebellion or
earthquake-it
is not infrequently
reported by the news agencies that a state of martial law has
been proclaimed.
In
war time it is of more than academic
interest to examine the authorities to see what the term implies.
In
England the Statute Book has no place for martial law, for
the reason that the law of England has from time immemorial
been administered in the King's name, originally through the
Shirereeve (who subsequently became the Sheriff) and later
through the Magistracy and the Court of King's Bench.
The
framework of our judicial system, built on such pillars as the
Assize of Clarendon (1166), the Statute of Winchester (1285)
and the Bill of Rights (1688), excludes all possibility of the
application of martial law to the administration of civil and
criminal justice.
The
nearest approaches to a state of martial law which
England has known were in the reign of Charles the First,
which led to the famous declaration in
the"
Petition of
Right"
(1628), and again in
1655,
in the appointment by Cromwell of
his Major-Generals, each assigned to one of the twelve regions
into which England and Wales was divided, and largely
endowed with inquisitorial and penal powers.
The
major-
generals remained under the personal supervision of the
Lord
Protector, and exercised powers which exceeded and indeed
superseded those of the constitutional ministers of the peace.
Originally instructed to " co-operate with other Justices of the
Peace," the soldier magistrates were provided with a special
force of militia, 6,420 strong, all
but
two hundred of them
mounted, their cost being defrayed by a tax imposed on the
estates of the Royalists." Unconstitutional in form, and
.. History of Police in England, Melville Lee.
187
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