| 单词 | service law |
| 释义 | service law Service law is the collective name for what was historically known as naval law, military law, and air force law (military law was the branch relating to the army, but the expression was frequently used to describe all three branches). Its primary source is the Armed Forces Act 2006, which effectively consolidated and aligned the Army Act 1955, the Air Force Act 1955, and the Naval Discipline Act 1957 to create a single body of service law applicable to all the armed forces. Supplementary sources are the Queen’s Regulations for each service, which are made by royal prerogative (or Orders in Council in the case of the Royal Navy). The Act requires annual renewal. Every fifth year a new Armed Forces Act will enable it to continue in force for one year and will provide that for each of the following four years it may be continued in force by an Order in Council that has been approved by resolution of each House of Parliament. The current quinquennial Armed Forces Act was passed in 2021. The purpose of this procedure (which also applied to the three earlier single service Acts) is to ensure that Parliament has an annual opportunity of debating matters relating to the armed forces. Service law is a specialized code of criminal law. Its essential concern is the maintenance of discipline and it embodies a variety of offences (including desertion, malingering, and insubordination) that have no counterpart in the ordinary criminal law. Since 1 April 1997 it has been an offence against service law to fail to provide a urine sample for the purpose of a service compulsory drug test; in addition, the service authorities have been empowered to take fingerprints or DNA samples from those convicted of service offences, for criminal records purposes. Many provisions of criminal law have direct application to the armed forces, while others require specific secondary legislation to take account of service requirements. Commanding officers have powers of dealing with minor offences summarily and, with effect from 2 October 2000, a member of the armed forces may appeal against the commanding officer’s finding and/or award to a Summary Appeal Court. The Summary Appeal Court, consisting of a judge advocate and two officers (or an officer and a warrant officer) may uphold, quash, or vary the commanding officer’s finding or award. However, the tribunal primarily responsible for the trial and punishment of offences is the Court Martial, which consists of a judge advocate and up to seven serving officers (including warrant officers). A defendant may appeal against conviction and/or sentence to the Court Martial Appeal Court, which is headed by the Lord Chief Justice. Service law applies to members of the armed forces wherever they may be. In the UK, a member of the armed forces is subject both to service law and to the ordinary criminal law. When he or she is not in the UK, the ordinary criminal law does not in general apply to a member of the forces; the Act therefore provides that it is an offence under service law for any member to do anything that constitutes an offence under the ordinary criminal law. The effect of this general provision is to create, in the case of a member of the armed forces who is in the UK, a duality of offences. If, for example, a soldier in the UK steals, he or she commits an offence against both the ordinary criminal law and service law. The soldier cannot, however, be punished under both. Although service law applies primarily to members of the armed forces, certain classes of civilians are also subject to it (who are referred to as being subject to service discipline). These include civilians employed outside the UK within the limits of the command of any officer commanding a body of the regular forces and the families of members of the armed forces residing with them outside the UK. This has led to the establishment of the Service Civilian Court. |
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