Court Martial Rules, 2008

JurisdictionIreland

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 11th July, 2008.

We, the Courts-Martial Rules Committee, constituted pursuant to the provisions of section 240A of the Defence Act 1954 (No. 18 of 1954), in exercise of the powers conferred on us by section 240B of the Defence Act 1954 , and of all other powers enabling us in this behalf, do hereby make the following Rules.

Dated this 28th day of June 2008.

Donagh M c Donagh

Chairperson

Oonagh M c Crann

Patrick A.M c Court

Niall Farrell

Denis M c Fadden

Ann Price

John Spierin

Secretary

I concur in the making of the following Rules.

Dated this 2nd day of July 2008.

WILLIE O DEA

Minister for Defence

S.I. No. 205 of 2008

COURT-MARTIAL RULES 2008

Part 1 — Preliminary and General

1.

Short title, commencement and application

2.

Interpretation

3.

Representation

Part 2 — Military Judge

4.

Unavailability of Military Judge

Part 3 — Duties of Court-Martial Administrator in relation to proceedings before courts-martial

5.

Register of proceedings

6.

Notice of order convening general court-martial or limited court-martial

7.

Delegation of duties

8.

Notice to parties and persons affected

9.

Facilities for trials and hearings

Part 4 — Trial by summary court-martial

10.

Application of Rules

11.

Procedure at trial by summary court-martial

Part 5 — Appeals to the summary court-martial

12.

Form and service of appeal

13.

Dismissal of appeal for non-prosecution

14.

Modification of Rules — Appeals to summary court-martial

15.

Order on appeal

Part 6 — Appeal to the summary court-martial against punishment only

16.

Information to be provided by the respondent

17.

Determining disputes of fact

18.

Evidence on behalf of the appellant

Part 7 — Appeal to the summary court-martial against a determination or against both determination and punishment

19.

Power of prosecutor on appeal against determination

20.

Appeal to the summary court-martial against a determination or against both determination and punishment

Part 8 — Referral of question of law in an appeal to the summary court-martial to the Courts-Martial Appeal Court

21.

Request to refer

22.

Procedure on reference

Part 9 — Legal Aid

23.

Prescribed authority

24.

Applications

Part 10 — Pre-trial matters

25.

Notice under section 19(1) of the Criminal Law (Insanity) Act 2006

26.

Pre-trial motions

Part 11 — Constitution of general court-martial or limited court-martial

27.

Assembly of court

28.

Procedure on assembly of court

29.

Inability of person named as member of board to attend

30.

Adjournment for insufficient number of members

Part 12 — Question of fitness by reason of mental disorder to take trial

31.

Question of fitness by reason of mental disorder to take trial

Part 13 — Procedure at Trial — Challenge and Swearing

32.

Procedure for challenge of members of board

33.

Swearing of board members

34.

Swearing of board to try several accused

35.

Swearing of other persons

36.

Substitution of solemn declaration for oath

Part 14 — Procedure at Trial — Prosecution

37.

Arraignment of accused

38.

Separate charge-sheets

39.

Objection by accused to charge

40.

Amendment of charge

41.

Special plea to the jurisdiction or plea in bar

42.

General plea of “Guilty” or “Not Guilty”

43.

Procedure after plea of “Guilty”

44.

Withdrawal of plea of “Not Guilty”

45.

Plea of “Not Guilty”, applications by accused

46.

Case for prosecution

47.

Submission as to case for prosecution

Part 15 — Procedure at Trial — Defence

48.

Rights of unrepresented accused

49.

Case for the defence — opening address

50.

Witnesses for the defence

51.

Where there are two or more accused

52.

Closing addresses

Part 16 — Procedure at Trial — Summing Up

53.

Summing-up by military judge

Part 17 — Procedure at Trial — Finding

54.

Consideration of finding

55.

Form and record of finding

56.

Procedure on finding

57.

Withdrawal of board

Part 18 — Procedure at Trial — Sentence or disposal

58.

Pre-sentence procedure

59.

Pre-sentence hearing

60.

Forfeiture of seniority of rank and service for purpose of promotion

61.

Pronouncement of sentence

62.

Notification of sentence and any appeal

63.

Suspension of sentence

64.

Special finding under section 203(1)

65.

Procedure under section 225

Part 19 — General Provisions as to proceedings of court

66.

Seating of members

67.

Continuity of trial

68.

Presence throughout of all members of board

69.

Dissolution by military judge of general court-martial or limited court-martial

Part 20 — General Provisions as to Witnesses and Evidence

70.

Judicial Notice

71.

Prosecutor’s witnesses

72.

Calling of witness whose evidence is not contained in the summary or abstract

73.

Witnesses required by accused

74.

Procuring attendance of witnesses

75.

Non-attendance of witnesses

76.

Withdrawal of witnesses from court

77.

Evidence on oath

78.

Examination and cross-examination

79.

Recalling witnesses

80.

Exhibits

Part 21 — Counsel and Defending Officer

81.

Rights of counsel

Part 22 — Record of Proceedings

82.

Record of proceedings — trial by court-martial

83.

Records — section 187A(3)(b) or (c)

84.

Retention of proceedings

Part 23 — Miscellaneous

85.

Service or delivery of documents

86.

Sittings and adjournments

87.

Orders

88.

Time

89.

Non-compliance

90.

Where no rule provided

91.

Forms

92.

Mode of address and attire

Schedule of Forms

S.I. No. 205 of 2008

COURT-MARTIAL RULES 2008

Part 1 — Preliminary and General

Short title, commencement and application

1. (1) These Rules may be cited as the Court-Martial Rules 2008.

(2) These Rules shall come into operation on the 1st day of September 2008.

(3) These Rules shall apply within and outside the State.

Interpretation

2. (1) In these Rules—

“Act” means the Defence Act 1954 (No. 18 of 1954);

“abstract of evidence” means—

(a) any statement in writing, prepared in accordance with the Rules of Procedure, of the evidence of witnesses proposed to be called at the trial by court-martial of an accused person, or

(b) where the context so admits or requires, any statement or record of evidence of a witness, (including that, if any, of the person charged) given or prepared to be given, or heard, at an investigation of a charge before a commanding officer (pursuant to sections 177, 177A or 178C), or an authorised officer (pursuant to section 177C), or an officer appointed for that purpose by the Deputy Chief of Staff (pursuant to section 177), as the case may be;

“accused” includes, where the context so requires, an appellant;

“authorised officer” means an officer in whom powers and duties are vested pursuant to section 184;

“board” means a court-martial board pursuant to section 189 or section 190;

“counsel” has the meaning ascribed to it by section 196(6);

“oath” and “swear” and cognate expressions, include affirmation or declaration, affirm or declare, in cases where an affirmation or declaration is by law allowed instead of an oath;

“party” includes any accused, appellant and prosecutor;

“person in waiting” means a person who is qualified to be a member of a court-martial board and who is specified by the Court-Martial Administrator in an order convening a general court-martial or a limited court-martial, as the case may be, to be a reserve member to be available for appointment to that particular court-martial for the purpose of Part 11 or Part 13 of these Rules;

“proceedings” means any proceedings before a court-martial including any appeal or application under Part V of the Act;

“proper military authority” when used in relation to any jurisdiction, power, duty, act or other matter, means such military authority as exercises or performs that jurisdiction, power or duty or is concerned with that act or matter pursuant to regulations made under the Act, or the custom of the service;

“prosecutor” means the Director, and includes any prosecuting officer appointed under section 184F(1) and counsel instructed by or representing either;

“Rules of Procedure” means any rules made by the Minister under section 240;

“subordinate officer” means an officer to whom power is delegated under section 179(1);

“summary of evidence” means the evidence in relation to a charge against an accused, taken down in writing in accordance with Rules of Procedure, and includes any statement made by the accused and taken down in accordance with those Rules and any further statement of evidence included in the summary of evidence in accordance with those Rules.

(2) In these Rules...

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