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122-410: Military justice (or military law ) is the body of laws and procedures governing members of the armed forces . Many nation-states have separate and distinct bodies of law that govern the conduct of members of their armed forces. Some states use special judicial and other arrangements to enforce those laws, while others use civilian judicial systems . Legal issues unique to military justice include

244-505: A lazaret and prisoner camp for around 6,000 POWs who lived in the burial vaults and used the coffins for firewood. Food was scarce and prisoners resorted to eating horses, cats, dogs or even human flesh. The bad conditions inside the graveyard contributed to a city-wide epidemic after the battle. The extensive period of conflict during the American Revolutionary War and Napoleonic Wars (1793–1815), followed by

366-418: A war of aggression , murder , ill treatment, and deportation of individuals, and genocide during World War II. Most were executed or sentenced to life in prison for their crimes. The United States Military Code of Conduct was promulgated in 1955 via Executive Order 10631 under President Dwight D. Eisenhower to serve as a moral code for United States service members who have been taken prisoner. It

488-569: A CO may delegate some powers of summary dealing to a subordinate. The superior officer of a CO, a Higher Authority, may vary a CO's powers of summary dealing. An implication is that every person subject to service law must have a CO, and a CO must have a Higher Authority. The military judicial system is headed by the Judge Advocate General who is a civilian and part of the Ministry of Justice . Administrative procedures enable

610-538: A German vessel, acting under a legal judge and only for members of the armed forces. In fact, no such laws have been enacted so far. Instead, suspects of crimes committed abroad are subject to the district attorney of the city of Potsdam . The reason is that the operational headquarters ( Einsatzführungskommando ) is located there. Nonetheless, there exist numerous acts that only concern soldiers describing their special status, their rights and duties. The military penal code ( Wehrstrafgesetz ) applies to soldiers by extending

732-491: A captured officer surrendered his sword and gave his word as a gentleman in exchange for privileges. If he swore not to escape, he could gain better accommodations and the freedom of the prison. If he swore to cease hostilities against the nation who hold him captive, he could be repatriated or exchanged but could not serve against his former captors in a military capacity. Early historical narratives of captured European settlers, including perspectives of literate women captured by

854-566: A conscript is, after the commission of crime, declared unfit for duty for medical or security reasons. In addition to judicial dismissal, the Defence Forces and the Border Guard have the option of administratively ending the military person's service if the person is in a paid position. This can happen even if no criminal charges are pressed. In the Defence Forces, the professional serviceman can also be administratively suspended for

976-560: A crime of treasonous nature (specifically, crimes in chapters 11 and 12 of the Penal Code, e.g. espionage, high treason and related crimes), shall be sentenced to lose their military rank also. Thus, not only active military persons but also retired personnel, reservists and persons who are too old to belong to reserve may lose their military ranks for crimes of civilian nature. Military crimes are relatively common in Finland. Partly this

1098-481: A death rate of 25% (2,963), nearly equalled that of Andersonville. During the 19th century , there were increased efforts to improve the treatment and processing of prisoners. As a result of these emerging conventions, a number of international conferences were held, starting with the Brussels Conference of 1874, with nations agreeing that it was necessary to prevent inhumane treatment of prisoners and

1220-644: A large part of human history, prisoners of war would most often be either slaughtered or enslaved . Early Roman gladiators could be prisoners of war, categorised according to their ethnic roots as Samnites , Thracians , and Gauls ( Galli ). Homer's Iliad describes Trojan and Greek soldiers offering rewards of wealth to opposing forces who have defeated them on the battlefield in exchange for mercy, but their offers are not always accepted; see Lycaon for example. Typically, victors made little distinction between enemy combatants and enemy civilians, although they were more likely to spare women and children. Sometimes

1342-458: A large reception camp was established at Dover capable of housing 40,000 men, which could later be used for demobilisation . On 13 December 1918, the armistice was extended and the Allies reported that by 9 December 264,000 prisoners had been repatriated. A very large number of these had been released en masse and sent across Allied lines without any food or shelter. This created difficulties for

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1464-544: A large unit surrendered all its men. At Tannenberg 92,000 Russians surrendered during the battle. When the besieged garrison of Kaunas surrendered in 1915, 20,000 Russians became prisoners. Over half the Russian losses were prisoners as a proportion of those captured, wounded or killed. About 3.3 million men became prisoners. The German Empire held 2.5 million prisoners; Russia held 2.9 million, and Britain and France held about 720,000, mostly gained in

1586-443: A lawful order. It also includes ordinary crimes, but perhaps with different standards of proof and punishment than for civilians, on the grounds that more is expected of military personnel by their oaths of office. Many of the terms used date back to the era during which the code was written. Legal system The term "legal system" is often used to refer specifically to the laws of a particular nation state . Some countries have

1708-518: A legal system is "an operating set of legal institutions, procedures, and rules". Depending on the definition, a legal system may contain only the set of laws or legal norms issuing from a particular sovereign authority or bound by a shared underlying norm or set of rules, or it may also include for example the institutions and processes by which those laws or legal norms are interpreted and given effect. The 19th-century legal positivist John Austin distinguished legal systems from one another based on

1830-415: A military or a civilian crime for more than two years in prison and there are no special grounds for leniency. If the sentence is a life sentence, dismissal is mandatory. The court may also sentence dismissal with a shorter prison sentence if the crime shows that the person is unsuitable for state employment. If the military person is no longer in service, the summary disciplinary procedure cannot be used and

1952-462: A mixed system. The distinction between civil law and common law legal systems has become less useful over time as the two groups have become more similar to one other, and also less cohesive as some members of each group have become more different from others. Some analysts also consider socialist legal systems to constitute a separate group. The Nordic legal tradition , encompassing the legal systems of Scandinavia and Iceland, may also be considered

2074-457: A period of one to six months. Similarly to state military servants, persons serving in a deployed force on an international mission may be administratively dismissed by the commander of the Finnish contingent. A conscript or a reservist cannot be dismissed but their service can be suspended by the brigade commander if they are suspected of having committed a crime which shows that they may endanger

2196-602: A position as superior and behaviour unsuitable for military person ( Finnish : sotilaan sopimaton käyttäytyminen , Swedish : olämpligt uppträdande av krigsman ). Other crimes are subject to usual civilian law. The military has a jurisdiction to investigate all military crimes proper, and also a number of other crimes that have been specifically listed as belonging to the military jurisdiction. These include e.g. various types of murder, assault, theft, fraud, forgery, computer hacking and illegal divulging of classified information. However, they are only under military jurisdiction if

2318-546: A process of harmonisation started with the introduction of a quinquennial Armed Forces Act. The Armed Forces Act 2006 replaces the three separate service discipline acts and earlier Armed Forces Acts as the system of law under which the Armed Forces operate. In the previous decade the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) had considerable impact on the administration of military justice, particularly

2440-399: A public letter of reprimand or a fine. If the superior does not feel that his powers allow him to give sufficient punishment, he will transfer the matter to the next higher superior. When the brigade commander determines that he cannot give sufficient punishment, he will transfer the matter to the public prosecutor who will commence prosecution in a civilian court. If the serviceman feels that

2562-440: A quality at least equal to that available to locals. The senior officer from each quadrangle was permitted to inspect the food as it was delivered to the prison to ensure it was of sufficient quality. Despite the generous supply and quality of food, some prisoners died of starvation after gambling away their rations. Most of the men held in the prison were low-ranking soldiers and sailors, including midshipmen and junior officers, with

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2684-530: A quarter of the over 2 million POWs held there died. Nearly 375,000 of the 500,000 Austro-Hungarian prisoners of war taken by Russians perished in Siberia from smallpox and typhus . In Germany, food was short, but only 5 per cent died. The Ottoman Empire often treated prisoners of war poorly . Some 11,800 British soldiers, most from the British Indian Army , became prisoners after

2806-457: A ransom. During his lifetime ( c.  570 – 632), Muhammad made it the responsibility of the Islamic government to provide food and clothing, on a reasonable basis, to captives, regardless of their religion; however, if the prisoners were in the custody of a person, then the responsibility was on the individual. On certain occasions where Muhammad felt the enemy had broken a treaty with

2928-425: A report on the circumstances of their capture and to ensure that they had done all they could to avoid capture. Each returning officer and man was given a message from King George V , written in his own hand and reproduced on a lithograph. The Queen joins me in welcoming you on your release from the miseries & hardships, which you have endured with so much patience and courage. During these many months of trial,

3050-486: A sentence of disciplinary punishment or up to one year in prison. During wartime, it carries a mandatory prison sentence of not more than four years, and, if the crime caused a particularly immediate danger to the unit, a mandatory minimum of one year, with a maximum sentence of ten years. When the military has jurisdiction over an ordinary crime, and the crime carries fine as a punishment, a disciplinary punishment may be given instead of fine both in summary proceedings and in

3172-474: A separate group of legal systems. However, both of these are more commonly considered subgroups of the civil law tradition. Prior to the late 20th century, mixed legal systems were rarely taken into account in classifications of legal systems, but today they are recognized as the most common case: a 2000 study of world legal systems found 92 mixed legal systems, 91 civil law systems, and 42 common law systems. Classifications of legal systems have often reflected

3294-404: A service man or woman to be discharged for unsatisfactory behaviour in a process similar to that in the private sector. They also allow a superior of any rank to award up to three extra duties or similar to a subordinate for minor infractions. Since being introduced this has significantly reduced the number of cases dealt with summarily. The United States Constitution authorized the creation of

3416-400: A single legal system, while others may have multiple overlapping legal systems arising from distinct sources of sovereign authority, as is often the case in federal states . In addition, different groups within a country are sometimes subject to different legal systems; this is known as legal pluralism . International law is also sometimes classified as a legal system, but this classification

3538-578: A small number of privateers . About 100 senior officers and some civilians "of good social standing", mainly passengers on captured ships and the wives of some officers, were given parole outside the prison, mainly in Peterborough although some further afield. They were afforded the courtesy of their rank within English society. During the Battle of Leipzig both sides used the city's cemetery as

3660-604: A system of military justice. Article I, Section 8 permits the U.S. Congress to "make rules for the government and regulation of the land and naval forces ." Congress issued these rules first in 1806 as the Articles of War . Military justice during the American Civil War was governed by the 1863 Lieber Code . The Articles of War were superseded in 1951 by the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). The UCMJ

3782-746: Is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict . The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war in custody for a range of legitimate and illegitimate reasons, such as isolating them from the enemy combatants still in the field (releasing and repatriating them in an orderly manner after hostilities), demonstrating military victory, punishing them, prosecuting them for war crimes , exploiting them for their labour , recruiting or even conscripting them as their own combatants, collecting military and political intelligence from them, or indoctrinating them in new political or religious beliefs. For

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3904-415: Is a strictly regulated environment and legal officers are a crucial part of the planning that goes into operational decisions. The Military Law Centre on the grounds of Royal Military College of Canada , staffed with military lawyers, oversees the education of officers and troops in legal matters, trains military lawyers and advises Ottawa on matters of policy and doctrine . Legal education is integrated into

4026-463: Is an officer and the other a warrant officer, an NCO or a private. The court of appeals, that acts as the first instance for the prosecution of officers with at least major's rank, will have a military member who has at least a major's rank. The Supreme Court of Finland has two officers with at least colonel's rank as members when handling military crimes. These members are not named for a specific case but serve for two-year terms. The military members of

4148-408: Is defined by a shared rule of recognition under which a pronouncement is recognized as valid law. These positivist accounts of the legal system have been challenged from various perspectives. Twentieth-century scholarship on legal pluralism emphasized that many legal norms do not arise from an identifiable government or sovereign, and therefore legal systems could not be defined simply based on

4270-773: Is disputed. Legal systems vary in their sources of law and the extent to which they are based on formal written law; some civil law systems have been based exclusively on statutory law while some customary law systems are based entirely on oral tradition. Legal systems are classified in many different ways. One popular classification divides them into the civil law tradition , common law tradition , religious law systems, customary law systems, and mixed legal systems . Modern scholarship, however, has moved away from these fixed categories toward an understanding of legal systems as drawing from multiple legal traditions or patterns. Legal systems have been defined in various ways. In one influential definition by John Henry Merryman ,

4392-418: Is due to the fact that the bar of criminality has been set consciously low. The crime of absence without leave is committed by a soldier who is even a minute late, and a slightest wilful or negligent disregard for a standing order or a regulation fulfils the indicia of the "service crime". The legislator has purposefully given the military superiors the legal tools by which to maintain discipline by punishing even

4514-776: Is federal law, found in Title 10 United States Code Chapter 47, and implemented by the Manual for Courts-Martial , an executive order issued by the President of the United States in his capacity as Commander-in-Chief of the United States Armed Forces . Court-martial convictions in the United States may be appealed through military courts of appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for

4636-522: Is formed by the disciplinary arrest, which may be sentenced for up to 30 days and is served in the detention facilities of the convict's garrison. When the military person holds a permanent or temporary paid position as a state military servant ( Finnish : sotilasvirkamies , Swedish : militärtjänsteman ), as all officers and NCOs in regular active service do, they will be sentenced to dismissal ( Finnish : viraltapano , Swedish : avsättning ) in addition to other punishments, if they are convicted of

4758-584: Is guided by Additional Protocol II , but insurgents are often treated as traitors , terrorists or criminals by government forces and are sometimes executed on spot or tortured. However, in the American Civil War , both sides treated captured troops as POWs presumably out of reciprocity , although the Union regarded Confederate personnel as separatist rebels. However, guerrillas and other irregular combatants generally cannot expect to receive benefits from both civilian and military status simultaneously. Under

4880-481: Is increasing voice in the country for the reform on the lines other liberal democracies are seeing in their military justice system. The United Kingdom's arrangements for justice in the armed forces dates back many centuries to the Articles of War . In the late 19th Century this was added to the annual Army Act and embodied in the Naval Discipline Act . The Air Force Act was added in 1918. In 1966

5002-437: Is not used in the source legal system but is spoken in multiple other legal systems (for example, a German legal document into French) must decide which legal system's legal language and conceptual framework to use in the translation. The classification of legal systems is also of practical importance in legal translation because it governs the difficulty of the translator's task: the more closely related two legal systems are,

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5124-568: Is often declared in times of emergency , war , or civil unrest . Most countries restrict when and in what manner martial law may be declared and enforced. All Commands of the Canadian Forces (CF) (that is, Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Air Force, Canadian Joint Operations Command, and Canadian Special Operations Forces Command) are primarily governed by the National Defence Act (NDA). Section 12 of

5246-567: Is vanishingly small. In year 2014, courts of appeals handled only a total of 5 military criminal cases. Members of any branch of the Bundeswehr , the German armed forces, are subject to the ordinary civil jurisdiction and unless otherwise stated all civil laws apply to soldiers as well. The German constitution allows the federal government in art. 96 II to create military courts under special circumstances: in times of war, outside Germany or on

5368-485: The Anglo-American War of 1812 , led to the emergence of a cartel system for the exchange of prisoners , even while the belligerents were at war. A cartel was usually arranged by the respective armed service for the exchange of like-ranked personnel. The aim was to achieve a reduction in the number of prisoners held, while at the same time alleviating shortages of skilled personnel in the home country. At

5490-695: The Canadian Forces Administrative Orders and Defence Administrative Orders and Directives; they are used as direction for authorities within the CF to administer the day-to-day considerations of the Forces. For example, officer cadets attending military college are organized and subject to regulations more appropriate for their academic success than the enforcement of discipline, as might be expected of fully trained members. Volume IV, Appendix 6.1 of The Queen's Regulations and Orders for

5612-747: The Court Martial , the Service Civilian Court , custody and appeals. The Act also creates the post of the Director of Service Prosecutions . Summary dealing by a Commanding Officer (CO) is the central feature, this is acceptable within the ECHR because an accused always has the right to elect trial by the Court Martial. Most cases are dealt with summarily. Typically a CO is a Lieutenant Colonel or equivalent (NATO grade OF-4), but

5734-862: The Czechoslovak Legion of Czechoslovak prisoners (from the Austro-Hungarian army) who were released and armed to fight on the side of the Entente, who briefly served as a military and diplomatic force during the Russian Civil War . At the end of the war in 1918 there were believed to be 140,000 British prisoners of war in Germany, including thousands of internees held in neutral Switzerland. The first British prisoners were released and reached Calais on 15 November. Plans were made for them to be sent via Dunkirk to Dover and

5856-588: The Dix–Hill Cartel was suspended, Confederate officials approached Union General Benjamin Butler, Union Commissioner of Exchange, about resuming the cartel and including the black prisoners. Butler contacted Grant for guidance on the issue, and Grant responded to Butler on 18 August 1864 with his now famous statement. He rejected the offer, stating in essence, that the Union could afford to leave their men in captivity,

5978-467: The Roman Empire , who were held in his town under appalling conditions and destined for a life of slavery, took the initiative in ransoming them by selling his church's precious gold and silver vessels and letting them return to their country. For this he was eventually canonised . According to legend, during Childeric 's siege and blockade of Paris in 464 the nun Geneviève (later canonised as

6100-494: The Third Geneva Convention , a combatant must be part of a chain of command , wear a "fixed distinctive marking, visible from a distance", bear arms openly, and have conducted military operations according to the laws and customs of war . (The Convention recognises a few other groups as well, such as "[i]nhabitants of a non-occupied territory, who on the approach of the enemy spontaneously take up arms to resist

6222-651: The Third Geneva Convention , prisoners of war (POW) must be: In addition, if wounded or sick on the battlefield, the prisoner will receive help from the International Committee of the Red Cross. When a country is responsible for breaches of prisoner of war rights, those accountable will be punished accordingly. An example of this is the Nuremberg and Tokyo Trials . German and Japanese military commanders were prosecuted for preparing and initiating

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6344-755: The USSR . David also acknowledged, but gave lesser importance to, the Islamic, Hindu , and traditional Chinese legal traditions. David's classification remained highly influential for several decades. However, in the late 20th century it came under attack for being excessively scientistic and nationalistic . In 1973, German comparatists Konrad Zweigert and Hein Kötz proposed a similar classification that recognized "Romanist" (typified by France), "Germanic", Anglo-American, Scandinavian, Socialist, Hindu, Islamic, and "Far Eastern" groups of legal systems, which were all distinguished from one another on stylistic grounds. Until

6466-498: The World Justice Project ranks national legal systems annually by their adherence to the rule of law . A distinguishing feature of legal translation compared to other forms of translation is that it often involves translating not only between languages but also between legal systems. A translator tasked, for example, with translating a legal document from one language and legal system into another language that

6588-403: The indigenous peoples of North America , exist in some number. The writings of Mary Rowlandson , captured in the chaotic fighting of King Philip's War , are an example. Such narratives enjoyed some popularity, spawning a genre of the captivity narrative , and had lasting influence on the body of early American literature, most notably through the legacy of James Fenimore Cooper 's The Last of

6710-498: The sovereign from which the laws flowed. A similar analysis had been proposed some centuries earlier by Francisco de Vitoria . Under Austin's analysis, any law that is part of a legal system must have been enacted by the same sovereign legislator. The 20th-century Austrian scholar Hans Kelsen took a different approach, in which all legal norms in a legal system must arise from a single underlying basic norm . The English theorist H.L.A. Hart argued instead that each legal system

6832-432: The 11th and 12th centuries. Noblemen could hope to be ransomed ; their families would have to send to their captors large sums of wealth commensurate with the social status of the captive. Feudal Japan had no custom of ransoming prisoners of war, who could expect for the most part summary execution. In the 13th century the expanding Mongol Empire famously distinguished between cities or towns that surrendered (where

6954-704: The 13th-century Albigensian Crusade in Languedoc and the Northern Crusades in the Baltic region . When asked by a Crusader how to distinguish between the Catholics and Cathars following the projected capture (1209) of the city of Béziers , the papal legate Arnaud Amalric allegedly replied, " Kill them all, God will know His own ". Likewise, the inhabitants of conquered cities were frequently massacred during Christians' Crusades against Muslims in

7076-693: The 1949 Geneva Conventions , POWs acquires the status of protected persons , meaning it is a war crime by the detaining power to deprive the rights afforded to them by the Third Convention's provisions. Article 17 of the Third Geneva Convention states that POWs can only be required to give their name , date of birth , rank and service number (if applicable). The ICRC has a special role to play, with regards to international humanitarian law , in restoring and maintaining family contact in times of war , in particular concerning

7198-455: The 1990s, these classifications of legal systems into family groups were typically considered rigid and fixed over time. But through the scholarship of H. Patrick Glenn this metaphor of static legal families has been supplanted by the concept of legal traditions, in which hybrid or mixed systems are the norm rather than the exception. In 1997, Ugo Mattei proposed classifying legal systems according to their social constraints, and particularly

7320-464: The American scholar John Henry Wigmore proposed a five-part classification of legal systems: primitive, ancient, Euro-American, religious, and "Afro-Asian". Wigmore's approach, the first to elevate the United States to top-level significance and the first to take Indigenous legal systems into account, was also noteworthy for erasing the distinctions among the different European legal traditions. In

7442-645: The Armed Forces (CAAF), a federal appellate court consisting of five civilian judges appointed by the President of the United States. CAAF decisions are subject to direct review by the Supreme Court of the United States . The offenses covered by the UCMJ include those encompassed by " high crimes and misdemeanors " which covers officials generally, and includes perjury of oath, abuse of authority , bribery, intimidation, misuse of assets, failure to supervise, dereliction of duty, conduct unbecoming, and refusal to obey

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7564-494: The Border Guard. When the investigation is ready, the case is brought to the company commander or sergeant major or for his superior for consideration. After hearing the suspect, the disposing superior either frees the suspect from suspicion or gives an appropriate punishment within the range allowed to him. The range is During peacetime, professional soldiers (with the exception of certain soldiers deployed to international missions) cannot be given other disciplinary punishment than

7686-727: The Canadian Military Colleges (QR Canmilcols) applies. A judge advocate general (JAG) has headed the Canadian military legal branch since before the First World War . The branch interprets the Canadian Forces ' own internal rules and in the Code of Service Discipline , and also international and humanitarian laws and codes of war, such as the Geneva Conventions . In Canadian practice, armed combat

7808-682: The Confederacy could not. After that about 56,000 of the 409,000 POWs died in prisons during the American Civil War , accounting for nearly 10% of the conflict's fatalities. Of the 45,000 Union prisoners of war confined in Camp Sumter , located near Andersonville, Georgia , 13,000 (28%) died. At Camp Douglas in Chicago, Illinois, 10% of its Confederate prisoners died during one cold winter month; and Elmira Prison in New York state, with

7930-857: The Jordan Valley. Australian Flying Corps pilots and observers were captured in the Sinai Peninsula, Palestine and the Levant. One third of all Australian prisoners were captured on Gallipoli including the crew of the submarine AE2 which made a passage through the Dardanelles in 1915. Forced marches and crowded railway journeys preceded years in camps where disease, poor diet and inadequate medical facilities prevailed. About 25 per cent of other ranks died, many from malnutrition, while only one officer died. The most curious case came in Russia where

8052-686: The Mohicans . Some Native Americans continued to capture Europeans and use them both as labourers and bargaining chips into the 19th century; see for example John R. Jewitt , a sailor who wrote a memoir about his years as a captive of the Nootka people on the Pacific Northwest coast from 1802 to 1805. The earliest known purpose-built prisoner-of-war camp was established at Norman Cross in Huntingdonshire, England in 1797 to house

8174-542: The Muslims he endorsed the mass execution of male prisoners who participated in battles, as in the case of the Banu Qurayza in 627. The Muslims divided up the females and children of those executed as ghanima (spoils of war). In Europe, the treatment of prisoners of war became increasingly centralised, in the time period between the 16th and late 18th century. Whereas prisoners of war had previously been regarded as

8296-624: The NDA§ authorizes the governor in council's creation of the Queen's Regulations and Orders (QR&Os). The QR&Os are subordinate legislation having the force of law. Since the principle of delegatus non-potest delegare has not achieved rigid standing in Canada, the QR&;Os authorize other military officials to generate orders having similar, but not equal, status. These instruments can be found in

8418-693: The Pentagon which has a "POW/Missing Personnel Office" and awards the Prisoner of War Medal . During World War I, about eight million men surrendered and were held in POW camps until the war ended. All nations pledged to follow the Hague rules on fair treatment of prisoners of war, and in general the POWs had a much higher survival rate than their peers who were not captured. Individual surrenders were uncommon; usually

8540-801: The Soviet Union's refusal to sign the Geneva Convention as a reason for not providing the necessities of life to Soviet POWs; and the Soviets also used Axis prisoners as forced labour. The Germans also routinely executed Allied commandos captured behind German lines per the Commando Order . To be entitled to prisoner-of-war status, captured persons must be lawful combatants entitled to combatant's privilege—which gives them immunity from punishment for crimes constituting lawful acts of war such as killing enemy combatants . To qualify under

8662-457: The baggage and equipment of the army, and because the French were attacking again and Henry was afraid that they would break through and free the prisoners who would rejoin the fight against the English. In the later Middle Ages a number of religious wars aimed to not only defeat but also to eliminate enemies. Authorities in Christian Europe often considered the extermination of heretics and heathens desirable. Examples of such wars include

8784-420: The changes in the legislation combining discipline acts across the armed forces is the trend towards tri-service operations and defence organisations. It deals with military offences , civil offences committed in some circumstances, offences by civilians associated with the armed forces or with the armed forces overseas (including family members), authority of Commanding Officer to deal with offences summarily ,

8906-542: The city's patron saint) pleaded with the Frankish king for the welfare of prisoners of war and met with a favourable response. Later, Clovis I ( r.  481–511 ) liberated captives after Genevieve urged him to do so. King Henry V 's English army killed many French prisoners of war after the Battle of Agincourt in 1415. This was done in retaliation for the French killing of the boys and other non-combatants handling

9028-598: The civil penal code ( Strafgesetzbuch ) to crimes that can be only committed on military duty: General offenses (such as desertion, illegal use of weapons and more) and offenses that interfere with the military hierarchy (such as mutiny or abuse). Law enforcing inside any branch is done by the military police , the Feldjäger . When investigating, working for the attorney is equivalent to any German police in civil issues. In cases of both groups involved (on German terrain), regular and military police cooperate. In emergencies,

9150-525: The classifier's view of geopolitical power relations. In 1909, Adhémar Esmein proposed classifying legal systems into Roman, Germanic, Anglo-Saxon, Slavic, and Islamic groups, which corresponded to the five major global empires of the time. This classification ignored, among others, the legal systems of Africa, China, and Japan, which Esmein did not consider significant. In 1913, Georges Sauser-Hall proposed an explicitly racial classification of legal systems into Indo-European, Semitic, and Mongolian. In 1928,

9272-443: The courts of law. When the crime falls under military jurisdiction, it is usually investigated by the serviceman's own unit. During such investigation, the serviceman's superior and the company commander have the power to detain the suspect. The battalion commander and military police officers have also the right to arrest the suspect and to conduct searches inside a military area. When the company commander or his superior feels that

9394-400: The crime has been committed against another military person or against the Defence Forces. Unlike other crimes, the military crimes have separate sentence ranges for peace and wartime. During wartime, the crimes carry considerably larger sentence ranges and, if the crime causes the danger to the military unit, the sentence range is even harsher. For example, desertion carries, in the peacetime,

9516-638: The crime is non-trivial and requires professional investigation, they may submit the issue to the Defence Command for investigation. The Defence Command has, in addition to the power of arrest, the power to use almost all other measures that are available to the Finnish police . If the Defence Command requires the use of the most invasive investigative measures (e.g. wiretaps, use of deep cover agents or computer intrusion) they may either request

9638-520: The criteria of Additional Protocol I. Therefore, they fall under the category of unlawful combatants , or more properly they are not combatants. Captured soldiers who do not get prisoner of war status are still protected like civilians under the Fourth Geneva Convention . The criteria are applied primarily to international armed conflicts. The application of prisoner of war status in non-international armed conflicts like civil wars

9760-484: The degree to which they adhered to three patterns: "rule of professional law", "rule of political law", and "rule of traditional law", from which all legal systems drew to some extent. The paradigmatic examples of these three patterns were the United States, Cuba, and Saudi Arabia, respectively. In contrast to these historic and stylistic classifications, some organizations have developed classifications and rankings of legal systems based on particular metrics. For example,

9882-417: The designation "Prisoner of War" for captured American personnel with "Missing-Captured". A January 2008 directive states that the reasoning behind this is since "Prisoner of War" is the international legal recognised status for such people there is no need for any individual country to follow suit. This change remains relatively unknown even among experts in the field and "Prisoner of War" remains widely used in

10004-945: The direction of Defence Forces are under military jurisdiction. Enemy prisoners of war fall under Finnish military jurisdiction during their imprisonment. As in Germany, persons under military jurisdiction are under the usual civilian criminal law. The military criminal law, the 45th Chapter of the penal code, encompasses only the crimes which only military persons can commit. The most important of these are various types of "service crime" ( Finnish : palvelusrikos , Swedish : tjänstgöringsbrott ) which encompasses all voluntary and negligent disobedience of orders and regulations, "guard crime" ( Finnish : vartiorikos , Swedish : vakttjänstbrott ), encompassing any misdeed during guarding duty, absence without leave ( Finnish : luvaton poissaolo , Swedish : olovlig frånvaro ), desertion ( Finnish : sotakarkuruus , Swedish : överlöpning ), diverse forms of disobedience against superiors, misuses of

10126-759: The district court are selected by the court of appeals on the motion of the Commander of the Finnish Army . The military members of the Courts of Appeals are selected by the Ministry of Justice on motion of the Ministry of Defence. The military members of the Supreme Court are selected by the President of Finland . The sentences of the courts for military crimes are served in civilian prisons. An exception

10248-457: The early rescue of our gallant Officers & Men from the cruelties of their captivity has been uppermost in our thoughts. We are thankful that this longed for day has arrived, & that back in the old Country you will be able once more to enjoy the happiness of a home & to see good days among those who anxiously look for your return. While the Allied prisoners were sent home at the end of

10370-470: The enemy (beyond identifying themselves, that is, "name, rank, serial number"), receiving special favours or parole, or otherwise providing their enemy captors aid and comfort. Since the Vietnam War , the official U.S. military term for enemy POWs is EPW (Enemy Prisoner of War). This name change was introduced in order to distinguish between enemy and U.S. captives. In 2000, the U.S. military replaced

10492-481: The exchange of prisoners would be carried out between warring states. Another such treaty was the 1648 Peace of Westphalia , which ended the Thirty Years' War . This treaty established the rule that prisoners of war should be released without ransom at the end of hostilities and that they should be allowed to return to their homelands. There also evolved the right of parole , French for "discourse", in which

10614-641: The five-month Siege of Kut , in Mesopotamia , in April 1916. Many were weak and starved when they surrendered and 4,250 died in captivity. During the Sinai and Palestine campaign 217 Australian and unknown numbers of British, New Zealand and Indian soldiers were captured by Ottoman forces. About 50 per cent of the Australian prisoners were light horsemen including 48 missing believed captured on 1 May 1918 in

10736-674: The increasing number of prisoners from the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars . The average prison population was about 5,500 men. The lowest number recorded was 3,300 in October 1804 and 6,272 on 10 April 1810 was the highest number of prisoners recorded in any official document. Norman Cross Prison was intended to be a model depot providing the most humane treatment of prisoners of war. The British government went to great lengths to provide food of

10858-454: The invading forces, without having had time to form themselves into regular armed units".) Thus, uniforms and badges are important in determining prisoner-of-war status under the Third Geneva Convention. Under Additional Protocol I , the requirement of a distinctive marking is no longer included. Francs-tireurs , militias , insurgents , terrorists , saboteurs , mercenaries , and spies generally do not qualify because they do not fulfill

10980-433: The military has no longer any law enforcement power over the issue. In such cases, the former service member is investigated by the civilian police but the case is handled by a court with military members. In sentencing, disciplinary punishments cannot be used. Instead if a disciplinary punishment, an ordinary day-fine is sentenced. Typically, this is the case when a reservist is absent from an obligatory refresher exercise or

11102-468: The military jurisdiction when activated voluntarily or involuntarily. The military jurisdiction starts from the moment when a person reports to duty or was liable to report to duty and lasts to the moment when the person has been discharged from service and, in case of conscripts and involuntarily activated reservists, has also left the military area. During wartime, also civilians serving in the Defence Forces or in civilian institutions that have been put under

11224-444: The military penal code but clearly against a military regulation. The head of the unit as immediate superior who acts as primary disciplinary master has the exclusive right to choose: non-judicial punishment (such as fines, curfews, arrests up to seven days), forwarding the decision to the next superior officer of the unit (arrest then can be extended up to 21 days) or calling the military service court ( Truppendienstgericht ) which has

11346-510: The momentary state of the "legal system", while others including Andrzej Grabowski use "legal system" in the opposite sense, to refer to the momentary state of the "legal order". Various different taxonomies of legal systems have been proposed, for example into families or traditions on historic and stylistic grounds. One common division is between the civil law tradition and the common law tradition , which covers most modern countries that are not governed by customary law or Islamic law or

11468-466: The more straightforward the translation process is. The difficulties in translating between common and civil law legal systems is particularly well-known. Thus for example, even though Finnish and Swedish are unrelated languages, the similarities between the Finnish and Swedish legal systems makes the translation process more straightforward than translating a legal document between dissimilar systems. Prisoner of war A prisoner of war ( POW )

11590-414: The national legal systems were subordinate parts. H.L.A. Hart considered international law to be law, but not a legal system, because it lacked a rule of recognition, rule of change, or rule of adjudication. However, it is increasingly considered to be a legal system. The origin of this view of international law is credited to the 18th-century German legal theorist Georg Friedrich von Martens . Although

11712-464: The need for the independence of the courts martial system. Nevertheless, the underlying premise of the service justice system is that discipline is a matter for commanders. The Armed Forces Act 2006 completed the harmonisation of service law, and took full effect on 1 November 2009. Guidance about its application and related matters are provided in the Manual of Service Law. One motivating factor behind

11834-703: The official website. There are certain para military forces in India too who have laws akin to the ones applicable to defence services. This includes the Border Security Force Act, Coast Guard Act, Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force Act and the Assam Rifles Act. All such Acts draw their inspiration from the Army Act. The military courts in India are coming under extreme stress with the establishment of Armed Forces Tribunal in 2007. There

11956-600: The period just before the Armistice in 1918. The US held 48,000. The most dangerous moment for POWs was the act of surrender, when helpless soldiers were sometimes killed or mistakenly shot down. Once prisoners reached a POW camp conditions were better (and often much better than in World War II), thanks in part to the efforts of the International Red Cross and inspections by neutral nations. There

12078-417: The police to conduct the measure or hand over the case to the police, as agreed between the investigator and the competent policeman. If the police considers it necessary, they may always take the case over, however. In the Border Guard, the Border Guard headquarters has the same internal law enforcement authority as the Defence Command in the Defence Forces, in addition to the regular law enforcement powers of

12200-541: The population was spared but required to support the conquering Mongol army) and those that resisted (in which case the city was ransacked and destroyed , and all the population killed). In Termez , on the Oxus : "all the people, both men and women, were driven out onto the plain, and divided in accordance with their usual custom, then they were all slain". The Aztecs warred constantly with neighbouring tribes and groups, aiming to collect live prisoners for sacrifice . For

12322-485: The postwar period, the influential French comparatist René David classified the world's legal systems into four broad groups: Romano-Germanic, common law, socialist law, and "other conceptions of law and the social order". This classification represented a French Cold War worldview, with the Romano-Germanic legal systems epitomized by France, common law systems by the United States, and socialist law systems by

12444-435: The power for further punishment (like degradation and shortening the salary up to five years). The judge of such a court is a civil one, two military officers are attending every case and act as consultants to the judge. In Germany, there are no federal or military prisons . If a soldier is sentenced to jail for up to six months, the punishment is executed by the soldier's barracks administration. He will remain in arrest for

12566-425: The preservation of good order and discipline, the legality of orders , and appropriate conduct for members of the military. Some states enable their military justice systems to deal with civil offenses committed by their armed forces in some circumstances. Military justice is distinct from martial law , which is the imposition of military authority on a civilian population as a substitute for civil authority, and

12688-411: The private property of the captor, captured enemy soldiers became increasingly regarded as the property of the state. The European states strove to exert increasing control over all stages of captivity, from the question of who would be attributed the status of prisoner of war to their eventual release. The act of surrender was regulated so that it, ideally, should be legitimised by officers, who negotiated

12810-411: The punishment was unjust, he can appeal to the brigade commander. The brigade commander's decision can be appealed to the district court within seven days. However, the appeals will not prevent the execution of the punishment. The military crimes that go to court are handled by civilian courts that have military members. The district court has a learned civilian judge and two military members. One of them

12932-507: The purpose of a battle, if not of a war, was to capture women, a practice known as raptio ; the Rape of the Sabines involved, according to tradition, a large mass-abduction by the founders of Rome. Typically women had no rights , and were held legally as chattels . In the fourth century AD, Bishop Acacius of Amida , touched by the plight of Persian prisoners captured in a recent war with

13054-457: The re-consecration of Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, "between 10,000 and 80,400 persons" were sacrificed. During the early Muslim conquests of 622–750, Muslims routinely captured large numbers of prisoners. Aside from those who converted, most were ransomed or enslaved . Christians captured during the Crusades were usually either killed or sold into slavery if they could not pay

13176-424: The receiving Allies and many ex-prisoners died from exhaustion. The released POWs were met by cavalry troops and sent back through the lines in lorries to reception centres where they were refitted with boots and clothing and dispatched to the ports in trains. Upon arrival at the receiving camp the POWs were registered and "boarded" before being dispatched to their own homes. All commissioned officers had to write

13298-435: The regular police is authorized to maintain order until the military police has arrived. Soldiers that violate military regulations may also receive penalties in form of Non-judicial punishment or in severe cases judicial punishments by a special type of court. These procedures are defined by the military discipline code ( Wehrdisziplinarordnung , WDO). The WDO describes how to proceed on offenses that are not (yet) covered by

13420-576: The regular training that CF members undergo. The Finnish military law concerns the members of the Finnish Defence Forces and the Finnish Border Guard . The military jurisdiction encompasses all military persons: conscripts, students training for a paid military position, females serving voluntarily and paid military personnel. However, military chaplains are outside the criminal military jurisdiction. Reservists belong to

13542-457: The right of prisoners of war and internees to send and receive letters and cards (Geneva Convention (GC) III, art. 71 and GC IV, art. 107). However, nations vary in their dedication to following these laws, and historically the treatment of POWs has varied greatly. During World War II, Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany (towards Soviet POWs and Western Allied commandos) were notorious for atrocities against prisoners of war. The German military used

13664-416: The safety of others. Following this, the person may be declared permanently unfit for duty by the Defence Forces regional office for safety and security reasons. As an exception to the principle that the military jurisdiction concerns only military persons, the penal code provides for the loss of military rank. Any person who is sentenced to prison for at least two years or to prison for any length of time for

13786-516: The same time but continue serving in his unit on duty times unless the court has imposed further limits. Otherwise soldiers will be detained in civil state prisons. In the case of a soldier being sentenced to jail for one year or more (six months or more in case of bribery) he will be discharged from the armed forces. India has its own Army Act , Navy Act and Air Force Act. These laws define the statutory provisions as applicable to men and women in uniform. All these three Acts are available on search from

13908-433: The slight appearances of bad conduct if they feel it necessary. On the other hand, handing out unofficial punishments is discouraged in the extreme. The number of military crimes is yearly somewhat above 4,000. An absolute majority of these are handled by summary measures, i.e. by a punishments given by the military superiors. Only some 250 military crimes in a year end up for handling in district courts. The number of appeals

14030-461: The sovereign. H. Patrick Glenn argued that legal systems were a structurally inadequate way of thinking about law because they failed to capture the epistemic and ill-defined nature of law, arguing for legal traditions as a better unit of analysis. Scholarly opinions on whether international law is a legal system have varied. Kelsen viewed international law as either included in all national legal systems, or an overarching legal system of which

14152-469: The start of the American Civil War a system of paroles operated. Captives agreed not to fight until they were officially exchanged. Meanwhile, they were held in camps run by their own army where they were paid but not allowed to perform any military duties. The system of exchanges collapsed in 1863 when the Confederacy refused to exchange black prisoners. In the late summer of 1864, a year after

14274-423: The surrender of their whole unit. Soldiers whose style of fighting did not conform to the battle line tactics of regular European armies, such as Cossacks and Croats , were often denied the status of prisoners of war. In line with this development the treatment of prisoners of war became increasingly regulated in international treaties, particularly in the form of the so-called cartel system, which regulated how

14396-399: The terms "legal order" and "legal system" are commonly used interchangeably, some writers have distinguished them. A number of legal positivists have used one term to refer to the set of legal norms in effect in a territory at a particular moment, and the other to refer to the set of legal norms over time. Theorists such as Eugenio Bulygin and Carlos Alchourrón use "legal order" to refer to

14518-496: The treatment of prisoners of war in detail. These provisions were further expanded in the 1929 Geneva Convention on the Prisoners of War and were largely revised in the Third Geneva Convention in 1949. Article 4 of the Third Geneva Convention protects captured military personnel , some guerrilla fighters, and certain civilians . It applies from the moment a prisoner is captured until his or her release or repatriation. Under

14640-475: The use of weapons causing unnecessary harm. Although no agreements were immediately ratified by the participating nations, work was continued that resulted in new conventions being adopted and becoming recognised as international law that specified that prisoners of war be treated humanely and diplomatically. Chapter II of the Annex to the 1907 Hague Convention IV – The Laws and Customs of War on Land covered

14762-611: Was created primarily in response to the breakdown of leadership and organisation, specifically when U.S. forces were POWs during the Korean War . When a military member is taken prisoner, the Code of Conduct reminds them that the chain of command is still in effect (the highest ranking service member eligible for command, regardless of service branch, is in command), and requires them to support their leadership. The Code of Conduct also requires service members to resist giving information to

14884-479: Was much harsh treatment of POWs in Germany, as recorded by the American ambassador (prior to America's entry into the war), James W. Gerard, who published his findings in "My Four Years in Germany". Even worse conditions are reported in the book "Escape of a Princess Pat" by the Canadian George Pearson. It was particularly bad in Russia, where starvation was common for prisoners and civilians alike;

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