R v Cuming

MARITIME LAW CASES. 189 Q.B. Div.] Reg. v. Cuming and others. [Q.B. Div. HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE. QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISION. March 11 and 30, 1887. (Before Lord Coleridge, C.J., Mathew, Cave, and Smith, JJ.) Keg. v. Cumiing and others. (a) Navy-Naval Discipline Act 1866 (29 & 30 Vict. c. 109)-Desertion-Bight of officer to resign commission-Leaving ship without resignation having been accepted-Admiralty Regulations, 160-Arre"t of officer without warrant. When commissioned officer accepts an appointment to serve in one of Her Majesty's ships in commission, and enters upon the performance of his duties, he subjects himself to the provisions of the Navy Discipline Act 1866, and cannot at his own will and pleasure resign his appoint-ment, and may be tried by court-martial for any of the offences specified in the Act. Queere, whether the mere acceplances of a commission would of itself and under all circumstances suffice to bring an officer within the jurisdiction of a court-martial for refusing to enter upon any particular service. A naval officer "subject to the Navy Discipline Act 1866," within the meaning of sect. 51, may arrest an offender against the Act without a warrant. The Admiralty refused leave to an officer of one of Her Majesty's ships in commission, to retire from the service, and thereupon the officer, having obtained permission to go on shore when the ship was at Simons Bay in South Africa, wrote a letter to his captain, informing him that he retired from the service, in accordance with the conditions laid down in article 160 of the Admiralty Regulations and returned his commission. The officer then returned to England in a mail steamer, and upon his arrival at Plymouth he was arrested and taken on board the flagship to await his trial by court-martial for desertion. Held, that he had no right to resign without leave, I and thai he was liable to be tried by court-martial under the Naval Discipline Act, 1866. This was a rule calling upon William H. Cuming, captain of the flagship Royal Adelaide, and the Master-at-arms, to snow cause why a writ of habes corpus should not issue directed to them to bring up Edward Brace Turville Hall, in order that he might be discharged from their custody. Lieutenant Hall had been arrested on a charge of desertion, and was in custody on board the flagship at Plymouth, awaiting his trial by court-martial under the 19th section of the Naval Discipline Act 1866 (29 & 30 Vict. c. 109). In 1886 Lieutenant Hall bad been appointed to Her Majesty's ship Orontes, which was under orders to sail on Oct. 6, 1886, for a cruise in the southern seas, which was expected to terminate on April 27, 1887. In Sept. 1886, Lieutenant Hall applied for an appointment in the London Salvage Corps, and having ascertained that the appointment would not he made until Oct. 15, which was nine days after the date fixed for the sailing of the Orontes. he wrote to the Secretary of the Ad-miralty, asking to be placed on the retired list of his rank, or, in the event of that being refused, to bo allowed to resign his commission as a lieu-tenant in the Royal Navy; this letter he left with his agents in England with instructions for them to forward it to the Admiralty in case he should be successful in obtaining the appointment. Ho was selected by the committee of the London Salvage Corps, and thereupon his agents forwarded the letter to the Admiralty, to which a reply was sent on the 3rd Nov., stating that the request contained in the letter could not be complied with. On the 13th Nov., at Gibraltar, Lieutenant Hall received a letter from the Committee of the London Salvage Corps, informing ,, him of bis appointment, and stating that, as they understood the Orontes would return to England in April, they expected him to take up his duties at that time. On the 17th Nov. information reached the Orontes by telegram that her cruise was to be extended, so that she would not return to England until July 1887, and thereupon Lieutenant Hull forwarded to the Admiralty through his commanding officer a telegram requesting leave to retire, which request was refused. On the Ist Feb. 1887, when the Orontes was at Simons Bay in South Africa, Lieutenant Hall obtained permission from his captain to go to Cape Town until the following afternoon, and at 4 p.m. the next day he left Table Boy for Plymouth in the mail steamer Grantully Castle, but before leaving he wrote a letter to his captain in the following terms: I have the honour to inform you that, in accordance with the conditions laid down in article 160 of the Admiralty Regnlations, I retire from the service, and I. beg to hand yon my commission. The commission was inclosed in the letter. On the arrival of the Grantully Castle at Plymouth, Lieutenant Hall was arrested by a naval officer, without a warrant. Article 160 of the Admiralty Reguiations 1879 is as follows: If any officer shall retire...