PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
LLC.O.88
885
3 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
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with the senior military or naval officer, when practicable, in regard to the directions to be given, and endeavouring, to the best of his knowledge and ability, to render them conformable to military methods and usages.
5th. Nothing herein contained is intended to deprive the Governor (except within the district to which Martial Law extends and where the officer commanding the troops in the Colony is not lower in rank than a field officer) of the authority vested in him by the Rules of the Colonial Service to issue directions respecting the distribu- tion of troops and their employment on escort and other duties required for the safety and welfare of the Colony. But within the area of Martial Law, and over the troops authorized by the Governor to
be employed therewithin, the officer in command of the troops, if not of lower rank than a field officer, shall have undivided authority, or be subject only to superior military authority, if any, within the Colony.
6th. Inasmuch as, in operations against insur- gents, combatants and non-combatants may not be easily distinguishable, and they may often be mixed, whether casually or by compulsion exer- cised by combatants upon non-combatants, all practicable care must be taken not to mistake the one for the other, and when they may be mixed
to spare non-combatants and those who may unwil
tingly be associated with insurgents.
7th. Men or bodies not armed with firearms or
weapons commonly used in warfare are not to be fired upon or assailed, unless actively hostile, without first summoning them to surrender; nor, even after being so summoned, are they to be assailed if in flight. And even if armed with fire- arms and other weapons commonly used in war, they are not to be assailed unless they shall have assumed a hostile attitude or appeared to intend resistance; and, in this case also, if compatible with the safety of the troops, an opportunity shall be afforded them to surrender. If, however, the position of the troops should not be free from danger, they may be permitted to fire upon men or bodies, though unarmed with weapons used in warfare, should such bodies hang about at a distance with apparently hostile purposes or purposes of reconnoitring.
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8th. Great care should be taken to avoid occa- sioning injury to children and to all women not duly convicted of offences; and, as a consequence of this rule, no dwelling-houses, or stores, or crops
of provisions or of the necessaries of life, should be destroyed, unless there is some military neces- sity for their destruction.
9th. Courts-martial on civilians are to be held solely for the purpose of suppressing insurrection and restoring the authority of the law. They are not, therefore, to take cognizance of any offences of civilians except those of which the present punishment will contribute to this purpose. But amongst these are to be numbered all offences against person and property by which the peace of the district may be disturbed, or the peaceable inhabitants
may
be injured or intimidated.
10th. Courts-martial on civilians are not to take cognizance of offences committed anterior to the proclamation of Martial Law unless they have been
so committed after the breaking-out of insurrection, or, if before, have been of such a nature as to have directly and obviously conduced to the insurrection, so that their immediate punishment shall be required as an example to insurgents and a means of suppressing disorder and restoring the authority of the law.
11th. Officers ordering Courts-martial, or sitting on them, or bringing charges before them, are to bear in mind that sentences to prolonged imprison- ment, or any sentences not susceptible of deter- minate execution within the period for which Martial Law shall endure, will cease to be of any force or effect so soon as Martial Law ceases; and consequently all offences which cannot be appro- priately punished in a summary manner (which will generally be the case with female offenders, not guilty of offences deserving death) should not be made the subjects of trial by Court-martial, but, where it is possible, be reserved for the ordinary Tribunals.
12th. Capital sentences shall not be executed
except in the following cases :-
(1.) Ringleaders of armed bodies engaged in
active resistance to authority.
(2.) Those who have committed or attempted
murders, or counselled them, or have