DEFINITION

• Military Law is primarily a tool for ensuring order and discipline within the armed forces. As such, Military Law provides for punishment of military personnel who act in violation of military statutes.

• Court-martial proceedings and punitive discharge involve discipline and punishments authorized by the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) for minor to serious offenses and chronic offenders.

• The summary court-martial is a non-judicial proceeding reserved for relatively minor offenses. The other two types of courts-martial, the special court-martial and the general court-martial, are judicial proceedings that may lead to felony criminal convictions and result in incarceration and/or punitive discharge from the armed forces.

• Military justice refers to the Criminal Law component of Military Law. It is a body of law codified in the UCMJ and implemented through the Manual for Courts-Martial.

• The military justice system applies to all active-duty military personnel, as well as to military reservists while they are on active duty, and certain civilian Department of Defense employees during wartime.

FIND A MILITARY LAW ATTORNEY IN YOUR AREA.

RELATED PRACTICE AREAS

Litigation and Appeals
Criminal Law
Administrative Law

BUZZWORDS

Civilian - Private citizen, as distinguished from a person belonging to the armed services.

Court Martial - A criminal court for trying and punishing those in the armed forces who violate the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Established under the constitutional power of Congress to regulate the armed forces. Jurisdiction is entirely penal and disciplinary.

Enlistment - Voluntary entry into one of the armed services other than as a commissioned officer.

Honorable Discharge - A formal final judgment passed by the government upon the entire military record of a soldier. An authoritative declaration by the government that a soldier has left the service in a status of honor.

JAG - (Judge Advocate General) Senior legal officer and chief legal advisor of the Army, Navy and Air Force.

Judge Advocate - Any officer in the Judge Advocate General's Corps or in a department of a U.S. military branch.

Military Law - A system of regulations for the government of the armed forces. That branch of the law that respects military discipline and the government of persons employed in the military service.

Uniform Code of Military Justice - The body of law that governs military persons in their conduct as military personnel.

PRACTICE AREA NOTES

• A defendant in a special or general court-martial is entitled to representation by a military lawyer. He or she can also obtain outside counsel by non-military personnel.
• The Constitution grants to Congress the power to raise and support armies and a navy, to suppress insurrections, and repel invasion among other military-related governmental roles. Thus, the main source of legal authority in this area is federal law.
• Military Law is a part of our body of law as a whole, and is fully recognized by civil courts. It is in force in time of peace as well as in time of war. All those serving in the Armed Forces are subject to Military Law at all times.