Statutes
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2230.1953.tb02766.x |
| Date | 01 January 1953 |
| Published date | 01 January 1953 |
STATUTES
V~sma
FORCES
ACT,
1952
POLITICAL
expediency has frequently been held responsible for the
fathering of undesirable legislative offspring. The latest statute
to arouse doubts as
to
its desirability is the Visiting Forces Act,
1952,
which may well be said to be the progeny of international expediency,
for the purpose of the Act is to enable the United Kingdom to ratify
the Agreement regarding the Status of Forces of Parties
to
the
North
Atlantic Treaty (Cmd.
8279)
which was signed in June,
1951.
Broadly speaking, the effect
of
the present statute is to provide for
the creation in this country of a large body of persons who are not
subject to the jurisdiction of the criminal courts.
This,
to
say the
least, constitutes a startling departure from the traditional principle
which ordains that all persons, nationals and aliens, who commit
a
crime
against the laws
of
this country are triable
by
the English
courts.
The development of
this
ouster of jurisdiction of the criminal
courts has
an
interesting background which needs to be stated
if
a
proper appreciation is to be gained of the recent enactment. The
story begins in
1988
when the Visiting Forces (British
Common-
wealth) Act was passed
to
legalise the setting up
of
service
courts
of Commonwealth forces stationed in the United Kingdom, but the
jurisdiction of such courts was limited to
cc
matters, concerning
discipline and the internal administration of such forces?’ Another
step was taken with the enactment of the Allied Forces Act,
1940,
which merely extended the
1933
Act to allied forces generally who
were in this country. To prevent any doubts arising as to the
extent
of
the jurisdiction exercisable by these military courts, the
1940
Act
expressly provided that
no
restriction w8S being placed
on
the
juris-
diction of the
civil
courts
to
‘try
a
member of any Allied armed
force
for an offence against the laws of this country.
A
similar provision
was inserted in the Allied Powers (Maritime Courts) Act,
1941,
which
permitted the establishment in the United Kingdom of Maritime
Courts for the trial of non-British subjects charged with certain
criminal offences against the law of an
Allied
Power.
In
each of
these three statutes,
it
will
be observed,
no
question arose of ousting
the jurisdiction of the English criminal courts.
However, within less than a year Parliament had passed the
United States of America (Visiting Forces) Act,
1942,
which,
according to the Agreement entered into between the two countries
and annexed as a Schedule to the Act, was to apply only
‘‘
during
the continuance of the conflict against our common enemies.”
Under
this
revolutionary enactment, United States service courts
59
To continue reading
Request your trial