Until 1689, mutiny was regulated in England by Articles of War instituted by the monarch and effective only in a period of war. This abuse of the crown's prerogative (the crown's right to make and enforce rules for the military) caused Parliament to pass the

Petition of Right The Petition of Right, passed on 7 June 1628, is an English constitutional document setting out specific individual protections against the state, reportedly of equal value to Magna Carta and the Bill of Rights 1689. It was part of a wider ...

in 1628. This Act stated that neither civilians nor soldiers and officers who were in England during peace were subject to military courts or law. Only common-law courts and courts of equity could exercise authority over individuals in peacetime England. Because the articles of war did not fall under these court's jurisdiction, military law could not be applied to anyone in England, whether soldier or civilian. In 1689, the first Mutiny Act was passed which passed the responsibility to enforce discipline within the military to Parliament. The Mutiny Act, altered in 1803, and the Articles of War defined the nature and punishment of mutiny until the latter were replaced by the Army Discipline and Regulation Act in 1879. This, in turn, was replaced by ''An Act to consolidate the Army Discipline and Regulation Act, 1879, and the subsequent Acts amending the Same'', to be known as the Army Act in 1881. The Army Act 1881 applied to members of the regular

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

, whether during wartime or peace. Although the traditional reserve military forces (not to be confused with the newer British Army reserves made up of regular soldiers who remained liable for recall after completing their full-time engagements) of the

Militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

Yeomanry Yeomanry is a designation used by a number of units or sub-units of the British Army, British Army Reserve (United Kingdom), Army Reserve, descended from volunteer British Cavalry, cavalry regiments. Today, Yeomanry units serve in a variety of ...

, and

Volunteer Force The Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a popular movement throughout the British Empire in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increasingly integrated ...

were increasingly integrated with the British Army during the latter decades of the nineteenth century, as with the previous

Mutiny Acts The Mutiny Acts were an almost 200-year series of annual Acts passed by the Parliament of England, the Parliament of Great Britain, and the Parliament of the United Kingdom for governing, regulating, provisioning, and funding the English and late ...

, the members of these units were not subject to the Army Act unless embodied for active service or for training with the regular army. This remained the case with the

Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry i ...

(created by the amalgamation of the Yeomanry and the Volunteer Force under the

Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 The Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907 ('' 7 Edw. 7, c.9'') was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the auxiliary forces of the British Army by transferring existing Volunteer and Yeomanry units into a new Territori ...

) and the Territorial Army as the Territorial Force was renamed by the

Territorial Army and Militia Act 1921 The Territorial Army and Militia Act 1921 (11 & 12 Geo. V, c. 37) was an Act of Parliament of the Parliament of the United Kingdom affecting the reserves of the British Army It modified the Territorial and Reserve Forces Act 1907, renaming the e ...

. As specified in the Army Act 1955, in reference to the Act's application to reservists, pensioners, and members of the Territorial Army: A number of regiments of the British Army, most of which are reserve units on Territorial Army lines, based and recruited in

British Overseas Territories The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remna ...

, although technically falling under the remit and control of the British Government (as national government, whereas the territorial government is strictly a local government to which most areas of internal government have been delegated) exist under acts of local legislatures, requiring clauses of those acts to also apply the Army Act to these units. These units, as of 2020, include the

Royal Bermuda Regiment The Royal Bermuda Regiment (RBR), formerly the Bermuda Regiment, is the home defence unit of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is a single Territorial Army (United Kingdom), territorial infantry battalion#British Army, battalion tha ...

(RBR), the

Royal Gibraltar Regiment The Royal Gibraltar Regiment is part of British Forces Gibraltar for the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. It was formed in 1958 from the Gibraltar Defence Force as an infantry unit, with an integrated artillery troop. The regiment is ...

, the

Falkland Islands Defence Force The Falkland Islands Defence Force (FIDF) is the locally maintained volunteer defence unit in the Falkland Islands, a British Overseas Territory. The FIDF works alongside the military units supplied by the United Kingdom to ensure the security ...

(FIDF), the

Royal Montserrat Defence Force The Royal Montserrat Defence Force is the home defence unit of the British Overseas Territory of Montserrat. History Raised in 1899, the unit is today a reduced force of about forty volunteer soldiers, primarily concerned with civil Defence and ...

, with the

Cayman Islands Regiment The Cayman Islands Regiment is the home defence unit of the British Overseas Territory of the Cayman Islands. It is a single territorial infantry and engineer battalion of the British Armed Forces that was formed in 2020. History 2019 On 12 ...

and the

Turks and Caicos Regiment The Turks and Caicos Islands Regiment is the home defence unit of the British Overseas Territory of the Turks and Caicos Islands. It is a single territorial infantry battalion of the British Armed Forces, formed in 2020. Background The Turks a ...

being in the process of formation. With the exceptions of the Royal Bermuda Regiment and the Royal Gibraltar Regiment, these units have been defined by the British Government as auxiliary to the British Army, making them British military units, but not acknowledged as parts of the British Army. The

Parliament of Bermuda The Parliament of Bermuda is the bicameral legislature in the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. The two houses are: * The House of Assembly which has 36 members, elected for a five-year term in single seat constituencies. * The Senate which ...

's ''Defence Act, 1965'', which legislated the amalgamation of the

Bermuda Militia Artillery The Bermuda Militia Artillery was a unit of part-time soldiers organised in 1895 as a reserve for the Royal Garrison Artillery detachment of the Regular Army garrison in Bermuda. Militia Artillery units of the United Kingdom and Colonies were int ...

and the

Bermuda Rifles The Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps (BVRC) was created in 1894 as a reserve for the Regular Army infantry component of the Bermuda Garrison. Renamed the ''Bermuda Rifles'' in 1951, it was amalgamated into the Bermuda Regiment in 1965. Formation A ...

to form the Royal Bermuda Regiment (at the time, the ''Bermuda Regiment'') in 1965, specifies when the Army Act applies to personnel of the regiment: The Army Act 1881 was renewed by Parliament annually, unless both Houses of Parliament approved a draft Order in Council continuing its life, with amendments or consolidations as required. The UK Parliamentary websiteHansard 1803–2005 "Acts (Hansard)"
UK Parliament. lists: * Army Act 1881 * Army Act 1882 * Army Act 1911 * Army Act 1914 * Army Act 1916 * Army Act 1926 * Army Act 1938 * Army Act 1953 * Army Act 1955 * Army Act 1957 * Army Act 1958 * Army Act 1961 * Army Act 1965 * Army Act 1992 * Army Act 1995

References