Armed Forces Act 2006

The Armed Forces Act 2006^[1]
Dates
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Long title	An Act to make provision with respect to the armed forces; and for connected purposes.
Citation	2006 c 52
Royal Assent	8 November 2006
History of passage through Parliament
Text of statute as originally enacted
Revised text of statute as amended

The Armed Forces Act 2006 (c 52) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

It came into force on 31 October 2006. It replaces the three separate Service Discipline Acts (the Army Act 1955, the Air Force Act 1955 and the Naval Discipline Act 1957) as the system of military law under which the British Armed Forces operate. The Armed Forces Act harmonizes service law between the three armed services. One motivating factor behind the changes in the legislation combining discipline acts across the armed forces is the trend towards tri-service operations and defence organizations.

The Act also granted a symbolic pardon to soldiers controversially executed for cowardice and other offences during the First World War.

Key changes introduced by the Act

Key areas of change included:

Summary Discipline: Summary hearing and the role of the Commanding Officer is retained at the heart of Service discipline and is the mechanism by which most offences are dealt. Summary offences and powers are harmonised across the Services. There is a reduction in the number of offences and sentencing powers available to Commanding Officers of the Royal Navy and an increase in those available to British Army and Royal Air Force Commanding Officers as powers of punishment are harmonised.
Service Prosecuting Authority: A single Service Prosecuting Authority, staffed by lawyers from all three Services, has been created. The role of the SPA is unchanged in that it will determine whether to prosecute an accused under Service law and will conduct the prosecution case at most Courts Martial.
The Court Martial: Courts Martial remain the means of dealing with the most serious offences. A standing Court Martial has been introduced comprising a Judge Advocate and a minimum of 3 or 5 Service members depending on the seriousness of the offence. In order to harmonise with the other Services, the Royal Navy introduced the unqualified right for all personnel to elect for trial by Court Martial regardless of the seriousness of the offence.

Offences in the Act

Main article: Offences against military law in the United Kingdom

The Act sets out offences against service law and the associated punishments. The offences fall into two main categories:

discipline offences, which can only be committed by members of the armed forces or, in a few cases, by a civilian subject to service discipline
criminal conduct offences, which are acts done anywhere in the world which, if done in England and Wales, would be against the civilian criminal law.

Pardon

The mass pardon of 306 British Empire soldiers executed for certain offences during the Great War was enacted in section 359 of the Act, which came into effect on royal assent. This number included three from New Zealand, twenty three from Canada, two from the West Indies, two from Ghana and one each from Sierra Leone, Egypt and Nigeria.^[2]

Tom Watson, then Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Defence, was instrumental in including this in the Act.^[3] He was said to have acted having met the relatives of Private Harry Farr, who was executed during the Great War despite strong evidence that he was suffering shellshock.^[4]

However section 359(4) states that the pardon "does not affect any conviction or sentence." Since the nature of a pardon is normally to commute a sentence, Gerald Howarth MP asked during parliamentary debate: "we are entitled to ask what it does do."^[5] It would appear to be a symbolic pardon only, and some members of Parliament had called for the convictions to be quashed, although the pardon has still been welcomed by relatives of executed soldiers.

Section 383 - Commencement

The following orders have been made under section 383(2):

The Armed Forces Act 2006 (Commencement No. 1) Order 2007 (S.I. 2007/1442 (C. 60))
The Armed Forces Act 2006 (Commencement No. 2) Order 2007 (S.I. 2007/2913 (C. 115))
The Armed Forces Act 2006 (Commencement No. 3) Order 2008 (S.I. 2008/1650 (C. 72))
The Armed Forces Act 2006 (Commencement No. 4) Order 2009 (S.I. 2009/812 (C. 54))
The Armed Forces Act 2006 (Commencement No. 5) Order 2009 (S.I. 2009/167 (C. 64))

References

Halsbury's Statutes,

↑ The citation of this Act by this short title is authorised by section 386 of this Act.
↑ http://www.nzherald.co.nz/search/story.cfm?storyid=000448CE-829B-1551-BCBF83027AF100AD
↑ http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/oct/28/world.military
↑ S.Walker Forgotten Soldiers Gill and MacMillan 2007 ISBN 978-0-7171-4182-1
↑ Hansard, House of Commons, 7 November 2006, col. 772

External links

The Armed Forces Act 2006, as amended from the National Archives.
The Armed Forces Act 2006, as originally enacted from the National Archives.
Explanatory notes to the Armed Forces Act 2006.
Hansard

United Kingdom legislation

Pre-Parliamentary legislation	List of English statutes Charter of Liberties Magna Carta

Acts of Parliament by states preceding the Kingdom of Great Britain	Acts of the Parliament of England to 1483 1485–1601 1603–1641 Interregnum (1642–1660) 1660–1699 1700–1706 Acts of the Parliament of Scotland Acts of the Parliament of Ireland to 1700 1701–1800

Acts of Parliament of the Kingdom of Great Britain	1707–1719 1720–1739 1740–1759 1760–1779 1780–1800

Acts of Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland	1801–1819 1820–1839 1840–1859 1860–1879 1880–1899 1900–1919 1920–1939 1940–1959 1960–1979 1980–1999 2000 to date Halsbury's Statutes UK Statute Law Database Short titles

Church of England measures	List Church of England Assembly (Powers) Act 1919

Legislation of devolved institutions	Acts of the Scottish Parliament Acts and Measures of the National Assembly for Wales Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly Acts of the Parliament of Northern Ireland Orders in Council for Northern Ireland

Orders-in-Council	Order in Council

Secondary legislation	United Kingdom Statutory Instruments Scottish Statutory Instruments Act of Sederunt, Act of Adjournal

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