Mutiny, etc., East Indies Act 1857
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1857 c. 66 |
(20 & 21 Vict.) C A P. LXVI.
[25th August 1857]
'WHEREAS an Act was passed in the Twelfth and Thirteenth Years of Her present Majesty, intituled East IndiaCompany, and for regulating in such Service the Payment of Regimental Debts and the Distribution of the Effects of Officers and Soldiers dying in the Service : And whereas it is expedient that the said Act be amended; and it being requisite for retaining the Forces of the East India Company in their Duty that an exact Discipline be observed, and that Soldiers who shall mutiny or stir up Sedition, or shall desert the said Company's Service, or be guilty of Crimes and Offences to the Prejudice of good Order and Military Discipline, be brought to a more exemplary and speedy Punishment than the usual Forms of the Law will allow:' 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, That—
I Power to Her Majesty to make Articles of War, of which all Courts shall take Judicial Notice, and Copies to be transmitted to Judges and Governors.
I. It shall be lawful for Her Majesty to make Articles of War for the better Government of theEast India Company's Forces, and from Time to Time to renew, alter, add to, or amend the same, as to Her Majesty shall appear fit; and all Articles of War to be so made shall be judicially taken notice of by all Judges and in all Courts whatsoever, and Copies of the same, printed by the Queen's Printer, shall, as soon as conveniently may be after the same shall have been made and established by Her Majesty, be transmitted by Her Majesty's Secretary of War to the Judges of Her Majesty's Superior Courts at Westminster, Dublin, Edinburgh, and in India respectively, and also to the Governors of Her Majesty's Dominions abroad, and of the Territories under the Government of the said Company; provided that no Person within the Territories which are or may be under the Government of the said Company, and within One hundred and twenty Miles Distance from the Presidencies of Fort William, Fort Saint George , and Bombay respectively, shall by such Articles of War be subject to be transported as a Felon, or to be kept in Penal Servitude, or to suffer any Punishment extending to Life or Limb, except for Crimes or Offences which are by this Act expressly made liable to Transportation or Penal Servitude, or to such Punishment as aforesaid, or shall be subject, with reference to any Crimes made punishable by this Act, to be punished in any Manner which shall not accord with the Provisions of this Act: Provided also, that nothing in this Act contained shall in any Manner prejudice or affect any Articles of War or other Matters made, enacted, or in force, or which hereafter may be made or enacted or in force, under the Authority of the Government of India , respecting Officers or Soldiers or Followers being Natives of the East Indies or other Places within the Limits of the said Company's Charter, and that on the Trialof all Offences committed by any Native Officer or Soldier or Follower Reference shall be had to the Articles of War framed by the Government ofIndia for such Native Officers, Soldiers, or Followers, and to the established Usages of the Service.
II Persons subject to this Act.
II. All the Provisions of this Act shall apply to all Persons belonging to the Forces of theEast India Company who are or shall be commissioned or in Pay as Officers, or who are or shall be listed or in Pay as Non-commissioned Officers or Soldiers, or who are or shall be serving or hired to be employed in the Artillery or any of the Trains of Artillery, or as Master Gunners or Gunners, or as Conductors of Stores, or who are or shall be serving in the Department of Engineers, or in the Corps of Sappers and Miners or Pioneers, or as Military Surveyors or Draughtsmen, or in the Ordnance or Public Works or Commissariat Departments, and to all Storekeepers and other Civil Officers employed under the Ordnance, and to all Veterinary Surgeons, Medical Storekeepers, Apothecaries, Hospital Stewards, and others serving in he Medical Department of the said Forces, and to all licensed Suttlers, and all Followers in or of any of the said Forces, and that all such Persons shall be at all Times subject to all the Penalties and Punishments mentioned in this Act, and shall in all respects whatsoever be holden to be within the Intent and Meaning of every Part of this Act.
III For Purposes of Act, Presidency of Fort William to comprise Agra.
III. For the Purposes of this Act and of any Articles of War to be made under the same, the Presidency ofFort William in Bengal shall be deemed and taken to comprise under and within it all the Territories which by Law are divisible between the Presidencies of Fort William in Bengal and Agra respectively, and such Territories shall for all the Purposes aforesaid be taken to be the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal .
IV Officers, &c. raised or serving in Places under Government of the Company liable to Martial Law.
IV. All Officers and Soldiers of any Troops, being mustered and in Pay, which shall be raised and serving in any of the Possessions or Territories which are or may be under the Government of the said Company, or in Places in possession of or occupied by Persons subject to the Government of the said Company, or by any Forces of the said Company under the Command of any Officer having a Commission immediately from the Government of any of the Presidencies of the said Company, shall be liable to Martial Law in like Manner as the Company's other Forces are.
V After Embarkation all Officers and Soldiers subject to Provisions of this Act.
V. All Officers and Soldiers who shall be enlisted in or transferred to the Service of the said Company, and all Officers in the said Company's Service who may proceed in charge of or be appointed to do Duty with such enlisted or transferred Officers and Soldiers, shall, from and after their Embarkation to go abroad to such Place whereto they shall be sent in the Service of the said Company, be during their Passage subject to all the Provisions and Regulations of this Act, and to all such Provisions and Regulations as Officers and Soldiers in the Pay of the said Company shall from Time to Time be subject to at the Garrisonor Place to which such Officers and Soldiers shall be sent; and in all Cases in which it may happen that Offences shall be committed by the said Officers and Soldiers after their Embarkation, and before their Arrival at their Place of Destination abroad, which cannot be tried and punished during their Passage in such Manner as such Offences ought to be tried and punished, every such Officer or Soldier may, after his Arrival at his Place of Destination abroad, be tried and punished for every Offence committed after his Embarkation and before his Arrival, in the same Manner as he would have been liable to be tried and punished if such Offence had been committed in any Place where the Offender might have been tried by Court-martial held under the Authority of this Act.
VI Power to the Commanders-in-Chief at the several Presidencies to convene Courts-martial for Trial of Offences.
VI. For the Purpose of bringing Offenders to Justice it shall be lawful for the General or other Officer commanding in chief the Forces inIndia , or the Forces of the Presidency of Fort William , and also for each of the Generals or other Officers respectively commanding in chief the Forces of the Presidencies of Fort Saint George and Bombay respectively, from Time to Time, as Occasion may require, to convene Courts-martial for the Trial of any Officer or Soldier under his Command who is or shall be charged with any Offence liable to be tried by Court-martial, whether such Offence shall have been committed before or after such Officer shall have taken upon himself such Command; and it shall also be lawful for each of the said Officers commanding in chief respectively to direct his Warrant to any Officer having the Command of any Body of Forces, authorizing him to convene Courts-martial for the Trial of Offences committed by any Officer or Soldier under his Command, whether the same shall have been committed before or after such Officer shall have taken upon himself such Command; provided that the Officer so authorized be not below the Degree of a Field Officer, save and except that in detached Situations beyond Seas, where a Field Officer is not in Command, a Captain may be authorized to convene District or Garrison Courts-martial; and it shall also be lawful for each of the said Officers commanding in chief respectively, when and as often as any Sentence is given and passed by a Court-martial legally constituted upon any Officer or Soldier under his Command, to confirm such Sentence, and to cause the same to be put into execution, or to suspend, mitigate, or remit the same; and it shall also be lawful for each of the said Officers commanding in chief respectively to give his Warrant to...
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