Mutiny Act 1817

Year1817
Anno Regni GEORGII III. Britanniarum Regis,Quinquagesimo Septimo. An Act for punishing Mutiny and Desertion; and for the better Payment of the Army and their Quarters.

(57 Geo. 3) C A P. XXXV.

[20th June 1817]

'WHEREAS the raising or keeping a Standing Army within the United Kingdom ofGreat Britain and Ireland , in a time of Peace, unless it be with the Consent of Parliament, is against Law: And Whereas it is judged necessary by His Majesty, and this present Parliament, that a Body of Forces should be continued for the Safety of the United Kingdom, the Defence of the Possessions of His Majesty's Crown and the Preservation of the Balance of Power in Europe , and that the whole Number of such Forces should consist of Onehundred and twenty one thousand and thirty five effective Officers and Men, including the Forces stationed inFrance , and also Fifteen thousand five hundred and eighty five Officers and Men proposed to be disbanded, and One thousand eight hundred and sixty three Officers and Men proposed to be transferred to the Indian Establishment, but exclusive of the Officers and Men belonging to the Regiments now employed in the Territorial Possessions of the East India Company, or ordered from thence to Great Britain : 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 in their Duty, that an exact Discipline be observed, and that Soldiers who shall mutiny or stir up Sedition, or shall desert His Majesty's Service, be brought to a more exemplary and speedy Punishment than the usual Forms of the Law will allow;' Be it therefore enacted by The King'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, That if any Person who is or shall be commissioned or in Pay as an Officer, or who is or shall be listed or in Pay as a Non Commissioned Officer or Soldier, shall at any time, during the Continuance of this Act begin, excite, cause or join in any Mutiny or Sedition in His Majesty's Land or Marine Forces, or shall not use his utmost Endeavours to suppress the same, or coming to the Knowledge of any Mutiny or intended Mutiny...

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