10 U.S.C. § 814
Section 814 · Art. 14. Delivery of offenders to civil authorities
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 26 court decisions — leading case Peek v. United States (1963)
Most recently applied in United States v. Mooney (March 2017)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) Under such regulations as the Secretary concerned may prescribe, a member of the armed forces accused of an offense against civil authority may be delivered, upon request, to the civil authority for trial.
(b) When delivery under this article is made to any civil authority of a person undergoing sentence of a court-martial, the delivery, if followed by conviction in a civil tribunal, interrupts the execution of the sentence of the court-martial, and the offender after having answered to the civil authorities for his offense shall, upon the request of competent military authority, be returned to military custody for the completion of his sentence.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
814(b) 50:568(a).50:568(b). May 5, 1950, ch. 169, §1 (Art. 14), 64 Stat. 112. In subsection (a), the words “Secretary concerned” are substituted for the words “Secretary of the Department”.
In subsection (b), the word “interrupts” is substituted for the words “shall be held to interrupt”. The word “his” is substituted for the words “the said court-martial”.
Regulations for Delivery of Military Personnel to Civil Authorities When Charged With Certain Offenses
Pub. L. 100–456, div. A, title VII, §721, Sept. 29, 1988, 102 Stat. 2001, provided that:
“(a) Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act [Sept. 29, 1988], the Secretary of Defense shall ensure that the Secretaries of the military departments have issued uniform regulations pursuant to section 814 of title 10, United States Code, to provide for the delivery of members of the Armed Forces to civilian authority when such members have been accused of offenses against civil authority. Such regulations shall specifically provide for the delivery of such members to civilian authority, in appropriate cases, when such members are accused of parental kidnapping and other similar offenses, including criminal contempt arising from such offenses and from child custody matters, and shall specifically address the special needs for the exercise of the authority contained in section 814 of title 10, United States Code, when members of the Armed Forces assigned overseas are accused of offenses by civilian authorities.
“(b) Not later than 120 days after the enactment of this Act [Sept. 29, 1988], the Secretary of Defense shall transmit to the Committees on Armed Services of the Senate and House of Representatives a copy of all regulations promulgated under section 814 of title 10, United States Code, as a result of this section and any recommendations that the Secretary may have concerning the need for additional legislation related to the amenability of members of the Armed Forces to civil authority.”
Cross References
Article to be explained, see section 937 of this title.