[2][3] Effective upon its ratification in 1788, Article I, Section 8 of the United States Constitution provided that Congress has the power to regulate the land and naval forces.
[4][5][3] On 10 April 1806, the United States Congress enacted 101 Articles of War, which were not significantly revised until over a century later.
[3][6] Discipline in the sea services was provided under the Articles for the Government of the United States Navy, commonly referred to as Rocks and Shoals.
[7] In 1948, Congress substantially reformed the Articles pursuant to the Selective Service Act of 1948,[8] but its naval counterpart remained little changed.
[12] Apart from consolidation of the existing military law, the UCMJ introduced United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces.
[13] Article 38(b) continued the 1948 Articles of War guarantee that qualified defense counsel be provided to all accused without regard to indigence (and at earlier stages than required in civilian jurisdictions),[14] whereas the U.S. Supreme Court only guaranteed the provision of counsel to indigents in Gideon v.
At the same time, the "court-martial" itself, the panel of officers hearing the case and weighing the evidence, has converted from being essentially a board of inquiry/review presiding over the trial, into a jury of military service-members.
In 2013, at the Department of Defense's Judicial Proceedings Panel, Cortney Lollar testified that the UCMJ needed to be updated to improve the sections regarding sexual assault.
[16] The current version of the UCMJ is printed in the latest edition of the Manual for Courts-Martial (2019), incorporating changes made by the President (executive orders) and National Defense Authorization Acts of 2006 and 2007.
Within the exceptions below, as codified in Article 2 of the UCMJ, personal jurisdiction attaches, regardless of the physical global location of the service member, over all members of the Uniformed Services of the United States: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, Coast Guard, NOAA Commissioned Officer Corps, and Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.
Each state sets the requirements to join, remain, be promoted or rewarded, and conditions of employment such as a minimum amount of duty performed in a year, and whether any duty is paid or unpaid, and whether the individuals are covered by various civil service or retirement pension plans.
Such an individual could be recalled to active duty under both SAD as a State Guard member, or under one of the various authorities to recall retired or reserve military members to active duty (10 USC 688, various 10 USC 123XX authorities, and others), but not both because a federal status trumps a state status.
[33] Historically, the UCMJ applied to "persons serving with or accompanying an armed force in the field" and thus included military contractors "in time of war.
"[34] In the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, which was enacted in 2006, Congress expanded the UCMJ's applicability to cover contractors during a "declared war or contingency operation.
[36] Under Article 15 of the Code (Subchapter III), specified military commanders have the authority to exercise non-judicial punishment (NJP) over their subordinates for minor breaches of discipline.
Punishments are limited to a reduction in rank for enlisted members, loss of pay, restriction of privileges, extra-duty, reprimands, and, aboard ships, confinement.
[41] The UCMJ is found in Title 10, Subtitle A, Part II, Chapter 47 of the United States Code.
Subchapter I, "General Provisions" has six sections (articles): Article 1 (Definitions), defines the following terms used in the rest of the UCMJ: Judge Advocate General, the Navy, officer in charge, superior commissioned officer, cadet, midshipman, military, accuser, military judge, law specialist, legal officer, judge advocate, record, classified information, and national security.
"[43] Clause 1 of the article involves disorders and neglect, "...to the prejudice of good order and discipline in the armed forces."