The Armed Forces Act 2006 (c 52) is an Act of the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

. It came into force on 31 October 2006. It replaces the three separate Service Discipline Acts (the Army Act 1955, the

Air Force Act 1955 The atmosphere of Earth is the layer of gases, known collectively as air, retained by Earth's gravity that surrounds the planet and forms its planetary atmosphere. The atmosphere of Earth protects life on Earth by creating pressure allowing for ...

and the

Naval Discipline Act 1957 The Naval Discipline Act 1957 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom governing discipline in the Royal Navy. It governed courts-martial and criminal penalties for crimes committed by officers and ratings of the Royal Navy. It was su ...

) as the system of military justice under which the British Armed Forces operate. The Armed Forces Act harmonizes service law between the three armed services. One motivating factor behind the changes in the legislation combining discipline acts across the armed forces is the trend towards tri-service operations and defence organizations. The Act also granted a symbolic pardon to soldiers controversially executed for cowardice and other offences during the

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Key changes

Key areas of change include: * Summary Discipline: Summary hearing and the role of the Commanding Officer is retained at the heart of Service discipline and is the mechanism by which most offences are dealt. Summary offences and powers are harmonised across the Services. There is a reduction in the number of offences and sentencing powers available to Commanding Officers of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

and an increase in those available to

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 ...

and

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

Commanding Officers as powers of punishment are harmonised. *

Service Prosecuting Authority The Service Prosecuting Authority (SPA) is the organisation within the Ministry of Defence, responsible for consideration of cases referred to it by the Service Police and where appropriate the Military Chain of command and where necessary the di ...

: A single Service Prosecuting Authority, staffed by lawyers from all three Services, has been created. The role of the SPA is unchanged in that it will determine whether to prosecute an accused under Service law and will conduct the prosecution case at most Courts Martial. * The

Court Martial A court-martial or court martial (plural ''courts-martial'' or ''courts martial'', as "martial" is a postpositive adjective) is a military court or a trial conducted in such a court. A court-martial is empowered to determine the guilt of memb ...

: Courts Martial remain the means of dealing with the most serious offences. A standing Court Martial has been introduced comprising a Judge Advocate and a minimum of 3 or 5 Service members depending on the seriousness of the offence. In order to harmonise with the other Services, the Royal Navy introduced the unqualified right for all personnel to elect for trial by Court Martial regardless of the seriousness of the offence.

Offences

The Act sets out offences against service law and the associated punishments. The offences fall into two main categories: * discipline offences, which can only be committed by members of the armed forces or, in a few cases, by a

civilian subject to service discipline A civilian subject to service discipline is someone who, whilst not a member of the British Armed Forces, is nevertheless subject to some aspects of British military law and the military justice system. Categories The Armed Forces Act 2006 ...

* criminal conduct offences, which are acts done anywhere in the world which, if done in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is Eng ...

, would be against the civilian criminal law.

Pardon

The mass pardon of 306

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

soldiers executed for certain offences during the

was enacted in section 359 of the Act, which came into effect on royal assent. This number included three from New Zealand, twenty three from Canada, two from the West Indies, two from Ghana and one each from Sierra Leone, Egypt and Nigeria. Tom Watson, then

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (or just Parliamentary Secretary, particularly in departments not led by a Secretary of State) is the lowest of three tiers of government minister in the UK government, immediately junior to a Minister ...

at the Ministry of Defence, was instrumental in including this in the Act. He was said to have acted having met the relatives of Private

Harry Farr Private Harry T. Farr (1891 – 18 October 1916) was a British soldier who was executed by firing squad during World War I for cowardice at the age of 25. Before the war, he lived in Kensington, London and joined the British Army in 1908. He ...

, who was executed during the Great War despite strong evidence that he was suffering from PTSD. However section 359(4) states that the pardon "does not affect any conviction or sentence." Since the nature of a pardon is normally to commute a sentence,

Gerald Howarth Sir James Gerald Douglas Howarth (born 12 September 1947) is a British Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Aldershot from 1997 until 2017, having been the MP for Cannock and Burntwood from 1983 to 1992. He wa ...

MP asked during parliamentary debate: "we are entitled to ask what it does do."Hansard, House of Commons, 7 November 2006, col. 772 It would appear to be a symbolic pardon only, and some members of Parliament had called for the convictions to be quashed, although the pardon has still been welcomed by relatives of executed soldiers.

Commencements

The following orders have been made under section 383(2):
The Armed Forces Act 2006 (Commencement No. 1) Order 2007
(S.I. 2007/1442 (C. 60))
The Armed Forces Act 2006 (Commencement No. 2) Order 2007
(S.I. 2007/2913 (C. 115))
The Armed Forces Act 2006 (Commencement No. 3) Order 2008
(S.I. 2008/1650 (C. 72))
The Armed Forces Act 2006 (Commencement No. 4) Order 2009
(S.I. 2009/812 (C. 54))
The Armed Forces Act 2006 (Commencement No. 5) Order 2009
(S.I. 2009/167 (C. 64))

References

* Halsbury's Statutes,

External links