required by regulations which the president may from time to time prescribe.

"Art. 35. Disposition of records-General courts-martial.-The judge advocate of each general court-martial shall, with such expedition as circumstances may permit, forward to the appointing authority or to his successor in command the original record of the proceedings of such court in the trial of each case. All records of such proceedings shall, after having been finally acted upon, be transmitted to the Judge Advocate General of the Army.

"Art. 36. Disposition of records-Special and summary courtsmartial. After having been acted upon by the officer appointing the court, or by the officer commanding for the time being, the record of each trial by special court-martial and a report of each trial by summary court-martial shall be transmitted to such general headquarters. as the President may designate in regulations, there to be filed in the office of the judge advocate. When no longer of use, records of special and summary courts-martial may be destroyed.

"Art. 37. Irregularities-Effect of.-The proceedings of a courtmartial shall not be held invalid, nor the findings or sentence disapproved, in any case on the ground of improper admission or rejection of evidence or for any error as to any matter of pleading or procedure unless in the opinion of the reviewing or confirming authority, after an examination of the entire proceedings, it shall appear that the error complained of has injuriously affected the substantial rights of an accused: Provided, That the act or omission upon which the accused has been tried constitutes an offense denounced and made punishable by one or more of these articles: Provided further, That the omission of the words 'hard labor' in any sentence of a court-martial adjudging imprisonment or confinement shall not be construed as depriving the authorities executing such sentence of imprisonment or confinement of the power to require hard labor as a part of the punishment in any case where it is authorized by the Executive order prescribing maximum punishments.

"Art. 38. President may prescribe rules.-The President may by regulations, which he may modify from time to time, prescribe the procedure, including modes of proof, in cases before courts-martial, courts of inquiry, military commissions, and other military tribunals: Provided, That nothing contrary to or inconsistent with these articles shall be so prescribed: Provided further, That all rules made in pursuance of this article shall be laid before the Congress annually.

"E. LIMITATIONS UPON PROSECUTIONS

"Art. 39. As to time.-Except for desertion committed in time of war, or for mutiny or murder, no person subject to military law shall be liable to be tried or punished by a court-martial for any crime or offense committed more than two years before the arraignment of such person: Provided, That for desertion in time of peace or for any crime or offense punishable under articles ninety-three and ninety-four of this code the period of limitations upon trial and punishment by courtmartial shall be three years: Provided further, That the period of any absence of the accused from the jurisdiction of the United States, and

also any period during which by reason of some manifest impediment the accused shall not have been amenable to military justice, shall be excluded in computing the aforesaid periods of limitation: And provided further, That this article shall not have the effect to authorize the trial or punishment for any crime or offense barred by the provisions of existing law.

"Art. 40. As to number.-No person shall be tried a second time for the same offense.

"F. PUNISHMENTS

"Art. 41. Certain kinds prohibited.-Punishment by flogging, or by branding, marking, or tattooing on the body is prohibited.

"Art. 42. Places of confinement-When lawful.-Except for desertion in time of war, repeated desertion in time of peace, and mutiny, no person shall under the sentence of a court-martial be punished by confinement in a penitentiary unless an act or omission of which he is convicted is recognized as an offense of a civil nature by some statute of the United States, or at the common law as the same exists in the District of Columbia, or by way of commutation of a death sentence, and unless, also, the period of confinement authorized and adjudged by such court-martial is one year or more: Provided, That when a sentence of confinement is adjudged by a court-martial upon conviction of two or more acts or omissions any one of which is punishable under these articles by confinement in a penitentiary, the entire sentence of confinement may be executed in a penitentiary: Provided further, That penitentiary confinement hereby authorized may be served in any penitentiary directly or indirectly under the jurisdiction of the United States: Provided further, That persons sentenced to dishonorable discharge and to confinement not in a penitentiary, shall be confined in the United States Disciplinary Barracks or elsewhere as the Secretary of War or the reviewing authority may direct, but not in a penitentiary.

"Art. 43. Death sentence-When lawful.-No person shall, by general court-martial, be convicted of an offense for which the death. penalty is made mandatory by law, nor sentenced to suffer death, except by the concurrence of two-thirds of the members of said courtmartial and for an offense in these articles expressly made punishable by death. All other convictions and sentences, whether by general or special court-martial, may be determined by a majority of the members present.

"Art. 44. Cowardice; fraud-Accessory penalty.-When an officer is dismissed from the service for cowardice or fraud, the crime, punishment, name, and place of abode of the delinquent shall be published in the newspapers in and about the camp and in the State from which the offender came or where he usually resides; and after such publication it shall be scandalous for an officer to associate with him. "Art. 45. Maximum limits.-Whenever the punishment for a crime or offense made punishable by these articles is left to the discretion of the court-martial, the punishment shall not, in time of peace, exceed such limit or limits as the President may from time to time prescribe.

MIL.L.-2

"G. ACTION BY APPOINTING OR SUPERIOR AUTHORITY

"Art. 46. Approval and execution of sentence.-No sentence of a court-martial shall be carried into execution until the same shall have been approved by the officer appointing the court or by the officer commanding for the time being.

"Art. 47. Powers incident to power to approve.-The power to approve the sentence of a court-martial shall be held to include:

"(a) The power to approve or disapprove a finding and to approve only so much of a finding of guilty of a particular offense as involves a finding of guilty of a lesser included offense when, in the opinion of the authority having power to approve, the evidence of record requires a finding of only the lesser degree of guilt; and

"(b) The power to approve or disapprove the whole or any part of the sentence.

"Art. 48. Confirmation-When required.-In addition to the approval required by article forty-six, confirmation by the President is required in the following cases before the sentence of a court-martial is carried into execution, namely:

"(a) Any sentence respecting a general officer:

"(b) Any sentence extending to the dismissal of an officer, except that in time of war a sentence extending to the dismissal of an officer below the grade of brigadier general may be carried into execution upon confirmation by the commanding general of the Army in the field. or by the commanding general of the territorial department or division;

"(c) Any sentence extending to the suspension or dismissal of a cadet; and

"(d) Any sentence of death, except in the cases of persons convicted in time of war of murder, rape, mutiny, desertion, or as spies; and in such excepted cases a sentence of death may be carried into execution upon confirmation by the commanding general of the Army. in the field or by the commanding general of the Territorial department or division.

"When the authority competent to confirm the sentence has already acted as the approving authority no additional confirmation by him is

necessary.

"Art. 49. Powers incident to power to confirm.-The power to confirm the sentence of a court-martial shall be held to include:

"(a) The power to confirm or disapprove a finding, and to confirm so much only of a finding of guilty of a particular offense as involves a finding of guilty of a lesser included offense when, in the opinion of the authority having power to confirm, the evidence of record requires a finding of only the lesser degree of guilt; and

"(b) The power to confirm or disapprove the whole or any part of the sentence.

"Art. 50. Mitigation or remission of sentences.-The power to order the execution of the sentence adjudged by a court-martial shall be held to include, inter alia, the power to mitigate or remit the whole or any part of the sentence, but no sentence of dismissal of an officer and no sentence of death shall be mitigated or remitted by any authority inferior to the President.

"Any unexecuted portion of a sentence adjudged by a court-martial may be mitigated or remitted by the military authority competent to appoint, for the command, exclusive of penitentiaries and the United States Disciplinary Barracks, in which the person under sentence is held, a court of the kind that imposed the sentence, and the same power may be exercised by superior military authority; but no sentence. extending to the dismissal of an officer or loss of files, no sentence of death, and no sentence approved or confirmed by the President shall be remitted or mitigated by any other authority.

"The power of remission and mitigation shall extend to all uncollected forfeitures adjudged by sentence of a court-martial.

"Art. 51. Suspension of sentences of dismissal or death.-The authority competent to order the execution of a sentence of dismissal of an officer or a sentence of death may suspend such sentence until the pleasure of the President be known, and in case of such suspension a copy of the order of suspension, together with a copy of the record of trial, shall immediately be transmitted to the President.

"Art. 52. Suspension of sentence of dishonorable discharge.-The authority competent to order the execution of a sentence, including dishonorable discharge, may suspend the execution of the dishonorable

6 65th Congress, 2d Session. S. 4969.

In the Senate of the United States
October 3, 1918.

Mr. Chamberlain introduced the following bill, which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Military Affairs. [Identical with a bill which passed in the House of Representatives on October 4, 1918.]

A Bill to amend the fiftieth article of war.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That article fifty of section thirteen hundred and forty-two of the Revised Statutes of the United States as amended by the Act entitled "An Act making appropriations for the support of the Army for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and seventeen, and for other purposes," approved August twenty-ninth, nineteen hundred and sixteen, be, and the same is hereby, amended to read as follows:

"Art. 50. Mitigation or remission of sentences.-The power to order the execution of the sentence adjudged by a court-martial shall be held to include, inter-alia, the power to mitigate, or remit the whole or any part of the sentence.

"Any unexecuted portion of a sentence adjudged by a court-martial may be mitigated or remitted by the military authority competent to appoint, for the command, exclusive of penitentiaries and the United States Disciplinary Barracks, in which the person under sentence is held, a court of the kind that imposed the sentence, and the same power may be exercised by superior military authority; but no sentence approved or confirmed by the President shall be remitted or mitigated by any other authority and no approved sentence of loss of files by an officer shall be remitted or mitigated by any authority inferior to the President, except as provided in the fifty-second article.

"When empowered by the President so to do the commanding general of the Army in the field or the commanding general of the territorial department or division may mitigate or remit and order executed as mitigated or remitted any sentence which under these articles requires the confirmation of the President before the same may be executed.

"The power of remission and mitigation shall extend to all uncollected forfeitures adjudged by sentence of a court-martial."

discharge until the soldier's release from confinement; but the order of suspension may be vacated at any time and the execution of the dishonorable discharge directed by the officer having general court-martial jurisdiction over the command, exclusive of penitentiaries and the United States Disciplinary Barracks, in which the soldier is held or by the Secretary of War.

"Art. 53. Suspension of sentences of forfeiture or confinement.— The authority competent to order the execution of a sentence adjudged by a court-martial may, if the sentence involve neither dismissal nor dishonorable discharge, suspend the execution of the sentence in so far as it relates to the forfeiture of pay or to confinement, or to both; and the person under sentence may be restored to duty during the suspension of confinement. At any time within one year after the date of the order of suspension such order may, for sufficient cause, be vacated and the execution of the sentence directed by the military authority competent to order the execution of like sentences in the command, exclusive of penitentiaries and the United States Disciplinary Barracks, to which the person under sentence belongs or in which he may be found; but if the order of suspension be not vacated within one year after the date thereof the suspended sentence shall be held to have been remitted.

"III. PUNITIVE ARTICLES

"A. ENLISTMENT; MUSTER; RETURNS

"Art. 54. Fraudulent enlistment.-Any person who shall procure himself to be enlisted in the military service of the United States by means of willful misrepresentation or concealment as to his qualifications for enlistment, and shall receive pay or allowances under such enlistment, shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.

"Art. 55. Officer making unlawful enlistment.-Any officer who knowingly enlists or musters into the military service any person whose enlistment or muster in is prohibited by law, regulations, or orders shall be dismissed from the service or suffer such other punishment as a court-martial may direct.

"Art. 56. Muster rolls-False muster.-At every muster of a regiment, troop, battery, or company the commanding officer thereof shall give to the mustering officer certificates, signed by himself, stating how long absent officers have been absent and the reasons of their absence. And the commanding officer of every troop, battery, or company shall give like certificates, stating how long absent noncommissioned officers and private soldiers have been absent and the reasons of their absence. Such reasons and time of absence shall be inserted in the muster rolls opposite the names of the respective absent officers and soldiers, and the certificates, together with the muster rolls, shall be transmitted by the mustering officer to the Department of War as speedily as the distance of the place and muster will admit. Any officer who knowingly makes a false muster of man or animal, or who signs cr directs or allows the signing of any muster roll knowing the same to contain a false muster or false statement as to the absence or pay of an officer or soldier, or who wrongfully takes money or other consideration on mustering in a regiment, company, or other organization, or on signing muster rolls, or who knowingly musters as an