Mutiny

Mutiny does not necessarily need to refer to a military force and can describe a political, economic, or power structure in which subordinates defy superiors.

Today the Armed Forces Act 2006 defines mutiny as follows:[1] (2)For the purposes of this section a person subject to service law takes part in a mutiny if— (a)in concert with at least one other person subject to service law, he— (i)acts with the intention of overthrowing or resisting authority; or (ii)disobeys authority in such circumstances as to subvert discipline; (b)he agrees with at least one other person subject to service law to overthrow or resist authority; or

Except for the punishment of desertion, which was made a felony by statute in the reign of Henry VI, these ordinances or Articles of War remained almost the sole authority for enforcing discipline until 1689.

That year, the first Mutiny Act was passed and the military forces of the crown were brought under the direct control of Parliament.

Even the Parliamentary forces in the time of Charles I and Oliver Cromwell were governed not by an act of the legislature, but by articles of war similar to those issued by the king and authorized by an ordinance of the Lords and Commons exercising in that respect the sovereign prerogative.

This power of law-making by prerogative was however held to be applicable during a state of actual war only, and attempts to exercise it in times of peace were ineffectual.

Meanwhile, the Articles of War, while repeating those provisions of the act, constituted the direct authority for dealing with offences for which imprisonment was the maximum punishment, as well as with many matters relating to trial and procedure.

After one or two years of experience highlighted the need for improvement, it was superseded by the Army Act 1881, which formed the foundation and main portion of the military law of England.

The Mutiny Act had been brought into force on each occasion for one year only, in compliance with the constitutional theory: that the maintenance of a standing army in time of peace, unless with the consent of parliament, is against law.

But constitutional traditions are fully respected by the insertion in it of a section providing that it shall come into force only by virtue of an annual act of parliament.

(Prior to this, the death penalty had already been abolished for murder, but it had remained in force for certain military offences and treason, although no executions had been carried out for several decades.)