Martial Law

That military rule and authority which exists in time of war, and is conferred by the laws of war, in relation to persons and things under and within the scope of active military operations, in carrying on the war, and which extinguishes or suspends civil rights and the remedies founded upon them, for the time being, so far as it may appear to be necessary in order to the full accomplishment of the purposes of the war. Prof. Joel Parker, in N. A. Rev., Oct., 1861. It depends on the just but arbitrary power and pleasure of the king, who may not make laws without the consent of parliament, yet in time of war, by reason of the necessity of it, to guard against dangers that often arise, may proclaim martial law. The phrases, "martial law" and "military law," are sometimes carelessly used as meaning the same thing, but there is a broad distinction between them. Acting under constitutional authority, congress has passed divers acts prescribing the rules and articles of war, which constitute the military law, but apply only to persons in the military or naval service of the government. Martial law, when once established, applies alike to citizens and soldiers. In a proper sense it is not law, but merely the will of the military commander, who is responsible to his government or superior officer. Hale's Hist. C. L. 54. War being simply an appeal to force, necessarily suspends and displaces the ordinary laws, and martial law prevails as an unavoidable necessity to restrain disloyal acts and preserve the authority of the government. This is true not only in the actual field of military operations, but also in remote districts where the inhabitants may be so far in sympathy with the public enemy as to obstruct the administration of the laws by the civil tribunals and render resort to military power necessary. But where the civil courts, in the midst of loyal communities, are exercising their ordinary jurisdiction, the appeal to the military arm or to martial law is needless. 44 Ill. 159.

A system of rules for the government of an army, or adopted in times of actual war ■ an arbitrary kind of law sometimes established in a district occupied by an armed force, by which the civil authority and the ordinary administration of the law are either wholly suspended or subjected to military control.

A system of law, obtaining only in time of actual war and srowing out of the exigencies thereof, arbitrary in its character, and depending only on the district of hostile territory held in belligerent possession, or, sometimes, in places occupied or pervaded by insurgents or mobs, and whieh suspends all existing civil laws, as well ag the civil authority and the ordinary administration of justice, See, also, MiLITARY Law. “Martial law, which Is built upon no settled principles, but is entirely arbitrary in its decisions, is in truth and reality no law, but something indulged rather than allowed asa law. The necessity of order and discipline in an army is the only thing which can give it countenance, and there fore it ought not to be permitted in time of peaca, when the king’s courts are open for ali persons to receive justice according to the laws of the land,” 1 BI. Comm. 418. Martial law is neither more nor less than the will of the general who commands the army. It overrides and suppresses all existing civil laws, civil officers, and civil authorities, by the arbitrary exercise of military power; and every citizen or subject—in other words, the entire population of the country, within the confines of its power—is subjected to the mere will or caprice of the commander. He holds the lives, liberty, and property of allin the palm of his hand. Martial law is regulated by no known or established system or coda of laws, as it is over and above all of them The coulmander is the legislator, judge, and executioner. 5 Blatchf. 321. Martial law is not the same thing as milt tary law. ‘The latter applies only to persons connected with the military forees of the country or to affairs connected with the army or with war, but is permanent in its nature, specific in its rules, and a recognized part of the law of the land. The former applies, when in existence, to all persons alike wlio are Within the territory covered, but is transient in its nature, existing only in time of war or insurrection, is not specific or always the same, as if depends on the will and diseretion of the military commander, and is no part of the law of the land.

The rule try by the commander civic authority. Masters in Chancery. took accounts, oaths, quiries concerning They were formerly the Crown Of Bce: torney in the K. B. of the Masters in the rolls which pass court The statute passed 52 Hen. III., a. b. Great Charter and the Charter of the Forfor wrongful distress, introducing writs providing as to guardians and wards in socletters of. A commission issued by a its subjects, authorizing the seizure of the nation, as reparation for the injury. It to privateersmen in time of war. La-w of governing such reprisals. right enjoyed by the lord or guardian in of his ward in marriage. If the infant she forfeited the value of the marriage /.), as much as a jury would assess, or the faith give for the alliance; and double the (duplex valor maritagii) was forfeited without the lord's consent. Marriage agreement for a marriage settlement to be Marriage brokage: negotiating a mar- Marriage license; v. San. Mara settlement of the estate of a husband and of the marriage, upon the wife, or the a certain way. Securities,. v. Assets. in London, formerly belonging to the v. Court, 55. imposed on a conquered or occupied counof an army during the suspension of the Courts martial: v. Coiirt, 93. Officers of the Court of Chancery, who affidavits, and acknowledgments, made infacts, and discharged other ministerial duties. the chief clerks, or prneceptores. Master of the Queen's coroner and prosecuting at- Master of the Rolls: originally the chief