Kings Regulations & Admiralty Instructions - 1913 - Civil Power

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Kings Regulations & Admiralty Instructions - 1913

Section VII.

Civil Power

811. Captain to assist.-The Captain will afford every facility to the civil power in detecting and apprehending persons serving on board whose arrest is required on any criminal charge, but he will require any constable or other civil officer coming on board to search for or apprehend such persons, to produce his warrant or to show satisfactory evidence of the character in which he acts.

2. The Captain will permit writs and other legal processes to be served on board provided that no serious inconvenience is thereby caused to His Majesty's Service.

3. Money payable under bastardy orders or under orders made in pursuance of the Act 41 Vict. cap. 19, Matrimonial Causes Act, or of the Act 58 & 59 Vict. cap. 39, Summary Jurisdiction (Married Women) Act, 1895, are not debts within the meaning of Section 97 of the Naval Discipline Act ; and consequently seamen and marines against whom such orders have been obtained are liable to arrest by the civil power for non-compliance with the same.

812. Arrests to be Reported.-Every civil or criminal arrest of an officer or man is to be reported by the Captain to the Commander-in-Chief, who will inform the Admiralty in all cases in which the arrest is in respect of a prosecution under the Public Stores Act, 1875 (see 1810), and in other cases only when an officer is concerned.

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2. Attendance at Trial.-Whenever any man shall be on trial by the civil power for an offence within His Majesty's dominions in the neighbourhood of his ship the Senior Officer, if practicable, will take steps to ensure the presence of an officer from the ship to which the prisoner belongs or upon the books of which he may be borne, to watch the case, and, if called upon by the Court, to testify to the prisoner's character and antecedents.

3. Naval Penalties.-Conviction by the civil power (whether followed by imprisonment or not) or an order under the Probation of Offenders Act, entails the stoppage of one day's wages and time for every 24 hours or portion of 24 hours during which the offender is absent, except in such special cases as the Commander-in-Chief or other Flag Officer, whose flag is flying, to whom reference can most conveniently be made, may consider deserving of the remission of these penalties. Should a man have been on leave when arrested by the civil power, his time and pay are not to be stopped for that portion of his absence during which he was on leave. In the case of Royal Marines on shore, forfeiture of pay for absence will be governed by Sections 138 and 140 of the Army Act, and, with the approval of the Deputy Adjutant-General, may be remitted in specially deserving cases.

4. Should the offence be one that has brought disgrace or discredit on the uniform, the Service, or the position which the offender holds, he may also be deprived of his good conduct medal, of one or more good conduct badges, or of Very Good " time towards the award or restoration of the same, be reduced to a lower class for leave, or be awarded an inferior character at the end of the year, if recommended by the Captain and approved by the officer mentioned in clause 3.

5. In specially serious or repeated cases, with the approval of the Admiralty, the offender may be disrated, reduced to the second class for conduct, or suffer other penalties. In all cases of reference to the Admiralty, a copy of the offender's :service certificate is to accompany the report.

6. A decision upon each case is to be obtained as soon as possible after the man's conviction, and if any of the penalties specified in clauses 4 and 5 are enforced they are to take effect from the date of the conviction or order under the Probation of Offenders Act. The decision is to be noted, with all the necessary particulars of the case, in the ship's ledger, conduct book (or, if a marine, in the company conduct sheet), and on the third page only of the quarterly return of punishments (S. 181). A warrant is not required.

813. Debt Cases.-The Captain will be justified, under Sections 97 and 98 of the Naval Discipline Act, in not allowing any petty officer, seaman, noncommissioned officer of marines, or marine belonging to the ship to be taken under any warrant, process, or writ of execution whatever, which may be issued in any part of His Majesty's dominions, for any debt or alleged debt, unless such debt shall have been contracted by the debtor at a time when he did not belong to His Majesty's Service.

2. Persons in arrest on Board.-He will be justified in not allowing any officer, seaman or marine, who may be in arrest on board to be taken out of the ship under a civil process for debt.

3. No officer or man in lawful custody on board can be brought before a civil court by warrant or summons from a justice of the Peace ; the only way would be to bring him up by habeas corpus.

4. Persons in arrest sent to Hospital.-If any person should while in arrest be necessarily sent to hospital, the Captain will inform the medical officer in charge of the establishment of the fact in order that he may not be surrendered under any civil process.

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5. Seizure of Uniform.-He will not permit the seizure by civil process on board the ship within His Majesty's dominions of any articles of uniform or clothing which may be reasonably necessary to enable the officer or man to whom they belong to perform the duties then or likely at any time to be required of him.

6. Report of Refusals to Surrender.-Every case of refusal to surrender an officer or man to a warrant, summons, or other process, is to be at once fully reported to the Commander-in-Chief or senior officer present, with the grounds of such refusal, and the offences, if any, with which the officer or man is charged on shore and those for which he is in arrest or undergoing imprisonment on board.

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