10 U.S.C. § 840
Section 840 · Art. 40. Continuances
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 35 court decisions — leading case United States v. Thomas (1986)
Most recently applied in United States v. Master Sergeant ALAN S. GUARDADO (November 2016)
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.
The military judge or a summary court-martial may, for reasonable cause, grant a continuance to any party for such time, and as often, as may appear to be just.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
2016—Pub. L. 114–328 substituted "summary court-martial" for "court-martial without a military judge".
1968—Pub. L. 90–632 inserted reference to military judge.
Effective Date of 2016 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 114–328 effective on Jan. 1, 2019, as designated by the President, with implementing regulations and provisions relating to applicability to various situations, see section 5542 of Pub. L. 114–328 and Ex. Ord. No. 13825, set out as notes under section 801 of this title.
Effective Date of 1968 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 90–632 effective first day of tenth month following October 1968, see section 4 of Pub. L. 90–632, set out as a note under section 801 of this title.