Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-08-22
Legal Protection
For Our Soldiers
by Frederic ]. Haskin

If the number Of lives and careers over
which il exercises jurisdiction be fair
test Of greatness. This is the military
jurisdiction division of the Office OF the
Judge advocate general Of the United
States Army.
Besides hooking after the legal affairs
| of the entire military establishment, the
office of the Judge advocate general ls, IN
true sense, an appellate court, acting IN
an advisory capacity To the Secretary of
War and TO the President, who has final
jurisdiction over every case involving
the dismissal Of an officer Of the army, and
every crime committed by an officer or an
| enlisted man which involves death or
penitentiary sentence. In word, this IS
| the tribunal To which nearly two million
fighting men must look for justice now
that they have lost their status as civil
ians
Since the war began, the Military Juris-
diction Division Of the judge advocate
generals office has received and acted
upon upwards Of $1,000 court martial
records, or an average Of nearly 100 per
month"; and during this period it has also
disposed of nearly 1000 cases Of clemen-
cy, restoration and parole, or an average OF
over 600 per month
II is proper to say that this court is, in
large measure, the outgrowth OF the
| present emergency, for, at the beginning
of the war, while the legal department Of
the army WAS we'll organized TO meet its
then existing requirements, its organiza-
ton was wholly Inadequate TO meet the
| new responsibilities thrust upon IT.
In order to understand the problem
faced by the Judge advocate general 3
office at the beginning Of the war, IT Is
necessary to know something OF the
organization and methods Of military
+, courts. a subject of which the average
| American is profoundly ignorant, but
which is now one of peculiar interest TO
| him.
The military courts, or courts martial,
| have jurisdiction over all crimes and Of
| fenscs committed by persons IN the mili-
| tary service But in time Of peace, officers
and soldiers, or others IN the military
service, who commit crimes and offenses
against the civil law are usually surren-
| dered by the military authorities to the
! civil courts for trial In time Of war, how
ever, this is rarely done, so that now the
military courts are exercising the Iuris-
| diction Of the ordinary criminal courts of
! the country, as we'll as jurisdiction IN
cases OF strictly military offenses.
IMMENSE CRIMINAL PRACTICE.
! Therefore. when the country is IN a
/ state of war, the Office Of the Judge advo-
| cate general faces the heavy duty Of an
! immense general criminal practice. The
i Military Jurisdiction Division has ~ pass
upon ali Of the crimes, misdemean0rs and
military ofTenses committed by nearly
| two million men taken from all classes Of
the population and who have been tried
| by general court martial. This means
| that IL must be seen to that the general
courts martial, which are called upon to
try officers and soldiers accused Of grave
crimes and mlsdemeanors, such as
murder, arson, bigamy, larceny, deser-
ton. treason, violation Of the espionage
law, etc, are composed OF men oi sound
| Judgment, and, if possible, with legal
| training; and that the cases are prosecuted
bv thoroughly trained judges advocate.
This, of itself, presents a most serious
problem for the office of the Judge advo-
| cate general And the interests Of the
! officers and soldiers aroused are not the
only ones at stake. Where offenses have
been committed against civilians, rs in
the case Of the Houston riots and other
instances which will readily come to mind,
the communities IN which they are tenn
porarilv resident have, necessarily. much
| at stake. and must depend upon the courts
tmartial for justice and redress.
But these courts martial are not courts
of final jurisdiction. In the hemoreimportant
cases. the office of the Judge advocate
general acts as an intermediate appellate
court. with the President OF the United
States as the court of last resort. In all
| officers cases involving dismissal from
| the service and all cases in which the
| death penalty has been imposed, which
| have been decided by courts martial con-
vened by the commanding generals OF
tactical divisions In this country, the
| President of the United States must act
| before the sentences can be executed, and,
In the event OF his disapproval Of the
sentences, the accused are released from
arrest and confinement.
PASSES U PoN LEGAL PHASES.
In all such cases which are tired by
general courts martial, the records of the
| trials must be sent to the Office of the
Judge advocate general. where the legality
| OF the proceeding Is passed upon. In the
event that the Office finds the proceedings
| illegal, the sentence is set aside otherwise
it is executed The only commanding
general who has now the right 10 execute
a sentende of dismissal OF an officer or a
sentence of death, without the interven-
i ton of the President or the Judge adyo-
cate generals office in this country, is
| General Pcrshing, the commander of the
| American Expeditionary Forces in France.
| So far, he has used this prerogative in
death cases only once, having sent every
| other such case to the President for final
action. In every such case so forwarded
TO the President, the latter has eommuted
the sentence.
The process of perfectlng the admins
tration of military justice since the war
began, therefore, has consisted in seeing
| that the courts martial have been care
Iully organized, 'nstructing the members
| of the courts and the judges advocate III
/ the subjects Of military law and procedure,
| and placing a check upon the action of the
| courts III the most serious class of cases in
| the hands of the judge advocate general :
| office in Washington.
| i In this work the best legal ability in
| the country has been called to the aid Of
| that office Before the war, the Judge
advocate general had as his assistants
perhaps a dozen men trained in military
/ law Tie now has upwards of 100 of the
best civilian lawyers in the United States,
all of whom have been commissioned as
| majors, lieutenant-col or colonels.
| They constitute IN true sense court of
criminal appeals and are a guarantee that
every American citizen who leaves the
protection of the civil courts in order to
serve his country shall still enjov the
Iavai riyhta q. hiph his fitizapShfp eo,,ferx,