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

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace ...

. It came into force on 31 October 2009. It replaces the three separate Service Discipline Acts (the

Army Act 1955 An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by p ...

( 3 & 4 Eliz. 2. c. 18), the Air Force Act 1955 ( 3 & 4 Eliz. 2. c. 19) and the

Naval Discipline Act 1957 The Naval Discipline Act 1957 ( 5 & 6 Eliz. 2. c. 53) 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 ...

( 5 & 6 Eliz. 2. c. 53)) as the system of

military justice 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 us ...

under which the

British Armed Forces The British Armed Forces are the unified military, military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its British Overseas Territories, Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests ...

operate. The Armed Forces Act harmonizes service law across 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 A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...

to soldiers controversially executed for cowardice and other offences during the

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Key changes

Key areas of change include: * Summary Discipline: Summary hearing and the role of the

Commanding Officer The commanding officer (CO) or commander, or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually give ...

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 naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

and an increase in those available to

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

and

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

Commanding Officers as powers of punishment are harmonised. * Service Prosecuting Authority: 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 (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 members of the mili ...

: 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 * 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 Law of the United Kingdom#Legal jurisdictions, 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. Th ...

, would be against the civilian

criminal law Criminal law is the body of law that relates to crime. It proscribes conduct perceived as threatening, harmful, or otherwise endangering to the property, health, safety, and Well-being, welfare of people inclusive of one's self. Most criminal l ...

Pardon

The mass pardon of 306

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

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, 23 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 at the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

, was instrumental in including this in the Act. He was said to have acted having met the relatives of Private Harry Farr, 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

is normally to commute a sentence,

Gerald Howarth Sir James Gerald Douglas Howarth (born 12 September 1947) is a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Aldershot (UK Parliament constituency), ...

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 ''Halsbury's Statutes of England and Wales'' (commonly referred to as ''Halsbury's Statutes'') provides updated texts of every Public General Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, Measure of the Welsh Assembly, or Church of England Me ...

External links

The Armed Forces Act 2006
as amended from the

National Archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

.
The Armed Forces Act 2006
as originally enacted from the