Court Martial Rules, 2008

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR SI 205/2008

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...