10 U.S.C. § 899
Section 899 · Art. 99. Misbehavior before the enemy
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 9 court decisions — leading case United States v. Matthews (1983)
Most recently applied in 2004 Pa. Super. 226 - Commonwealth v. Coleman (June 2004)
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.
Any member of the armed forces who before or in the presence of the enemy—
(1) runs away;
(2) shamefully abandons, surrenders, or delivers up any command, unit, place, or military property which it is his duty to defend;
(3) through disobedience, neglect, or intentional misconduct endangers the safety of any such command, unit, place, or military property;
(4) casts away his arms or ammunition;
(5) is guilty of cowardly conduct;
(6) quits his place of duty to plunder or pillage;
(7) causes false alarms in any command, unit, or place under control of the armed forces;
(8) willfully fails to do his utmost to encounter, engage, capture, or destroy any enemy troops, combatants, vessels, aircraft, or any other thing, which it is his duty so to encounter, engage, capture, or destroy; or
(9) does not afford all practicable relief and assistance to any troops, combatants, vessels, or aircraft of the armed forces belonging to the United States or their allies when engaged in battle;
shall be punished by death or such other punishment as a court-martial may direct.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Cross References
Article to be explained, see section 937 of this title.
Federal retirement benefits, forfeiture upon conviction of offenses described hereunder, see section 8312 of Title 5, Government Organization and Employees.
Plea of guilty, prohibition against reception, see section 845 of this title.
Solicitation of offense, see section 882 of this title.