Manticoran Articles of War

The Articles of War were the Star Kingdom of Manticore's main act of military law, laying out many of the basic rules of conduct for the Royal Manticoran Navy, Army and Marine Corps.
== Known Articles ==
=== Article 9 ===
Concerning physical attack against a superior officer (punishment). ()
=== Article 10 ===
Concerning actions or speech prejudicial to discipline and the chain of command were forbidden (). That could include:
* comments detrimental to the authority of superior officers (),
* unauthorized assumption of command in the presence of an authorized officera violation of at least five separate articles ()
=== Article 14 ===
Concerning desertion. Capital punishment in time of war, 30 years of imprisonment during peace. (, )
=== Article 15 ===
Concerning desertion. Capital punishment in time of war, 30 years of imprisonment during peace. (, )
=== Article 19 ===
Concerning conspiracy to desert in time of war. Possible punishments: imprisonment or even capital punishment. (, )
=== Article 20 ===
Prohibiting actions or language "of an insubordinate nature, tending to undermine the authority of a superior officer". ()
=== Article 23 ===
Concerning insubordination in terms of breaking off action against the enemy without orders. Possible punishment - letters of censure. ()
=== Article 26 ===
Concerning insubordination in terms of disobeying a direct order from the flagship. Possible punishment - letters of censure. ()
=== Article 34 ===
Concerning violent, abusive, and threatening behavior to a fellow crewman, including verbal abuse. Shipboard punishment.called Captain's Mast, maximum 45 days close confinement on basic rations per offence and 3 grades degradation, a fine was possible also ()
=== Article 35 ===
Concerning assault on a fellow crewman. Shipboard punishment. ()
=== Article 36 ===
Concerning fighting with a fellow crewman, and establishing aggravated circumstances. Shipboard punishment. ()
=== Article 50 ===
Concerning personal injury. ()
=== Article 90 ===
Concerning murder or conspiracy to commit murder. Possible punishment - imprisonment or even capital punishment. ()
=== Article 119 ===
Concerning social relations between an officer and a direct subordinate, which were not allowed.There was no similar provision in the Grayson Articles of War ()
:Comment: Article 119 was enforced. The Queen's Bench was of the opinion that the Monarch had the authority to officially set aside Article 119 at her discretion. (, )
== Not numbered rules ==
There were mentioned some simple rules without an article number mentioned, however it is possible some of them could be interpretation of more than one article.
=== Regulations on court-martial ===
Court-martial board was assembled, pursuant to the procedures and regulations laid down in the Articles of War and Manual for Courts-Martial, by order of First Lord of Admiralty, acting for, by the authority of, and at the direction of Her Majesty the Queen. Appeared regulations were as follows:
* providing information about delict against the Articles of War, before open court martial proceduresuch information was protected also by the Defense of the Realm Act and the Official Secrets Act, was forbidden ()
* commissioned officer shold be judged by officers with longer seniorityit is not certain on what way court martial board was appointed, when one of six most senior officers would be judged ()
* members of court martial board (six), when commissioned officer was judged, were drawn ()
* naval station commander was entiteled to provide court martials for enlisted personnel ()
* the senior officer present had to punish those guilty of criminal conduct in his command areathe same rule was present at the Grayson Articles of War and to appoint court martial membersmilitary tribunal case ()
* the senior officer present probably was entiteled to endorse sentences of a court martialmilitary tribunal case ()
=== Other rules ===
* Presence of armed foreign nationals in a Queen's ship was forbidden. (,)
* Denying a subordinate a legal right was forbidden (but duel against another member of the RMN was possible to be forbidden). ()
* Some articles defined insubordination and cowardice as forbidden behavior. (, ).
* Leaving a command position without just cause to have the ship repaired. (,)
* Returning to a command position without the ship. (,)
== Penalties ==
* shipboard punishment - for petty crimes - articles 34-36,
* letters of censure - articles 23 and 26,
* stripping of rank - for serious offences like slaving as well as for cowardice before the enemy (, )
* 30 years of imprisonment - for desertion during peace ()
* capital punishment:
** the only punishment for desertion in the face of the enemy in time of war and for high treason ()
** possible punishment for conspiring to commit murder (article 90). ()
== Non-covered areas ==
The Articles of War did not require naval personnel to use naval shipping to reach their assigned duty stations. ()
== References ==
== External links ==
* Articles of War (Royal Navy) on Wikipedia
* text of the Articles of War
* the UK Naval Discipline Act of 1957 (valid unitil 2009)
Category:Royal Manticoran Navy
Category:Law