vi PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION OF 1886. uable both as law and history. A complete history, for example, of the late war could scarcely be written without taking into consideration the more important trials and acts of military government of that period instanced in the course of these volumes. The author, however, will be fully recompensed for his labors if the same shall result in inspiring an interest in the study of Military Law as a department of legal science not heretofore duly recognized. The lawyer who, if he has not been led into the old error of confounding the military law proper with martial law, has perhaps viewed it as consisting merely of an unimportant and uninteresting scheme of discipline, will, it is hoped, discover in these pages that there is a military code of greater age and dignity and of a more elevated tone than any existing American civil code, as also a military procedure, which, by its freedom from the technical forms and obstructive habits that embarrass and delay the operations of the civil courts, is enabled to result in a summary and efficient administration of justice well worthy of respect and imitation. The military student, on the other hand, in examining the cases cited, as adjudicated by the courts which expound the international law, the common law, the criminal law, and the maritime law, will, it is thought, more fully appreciate the connection between the military law and the general law of the land;—will perceive that the former, while distinct and individual, is not an isolated exception, but a branch of the great body of the public law, variously and harmoniously affiliated with the other branches of the system. That Military Law, from its early origin and historical associations, its experience of many wars, its moderation in time of peace, its scrupulous regard of honor, its inflexible discipline, its simplicity, and its strength, is fairly entitled to consideration and study, is a belief of the author which he trusts his readers will share. PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION. SINCE the publication of the original edition of this Treatise in 1886, the scope of our military law has been enlarged, and its procedure modified, by new legislation of Congress; notable adjudications illustrating military questions have been made by the civil courts, and opinions rendered by the law officers; important military trials have been held; the Army Regulations have been re-codified; and the discretion of courts-martial in the imposition of punishment in cases of enlisted men has been defined and restricted by statutory authority. A new edition of the work, revising the original text and bringing down the law and rulings to the present date, has thus seemed desirable. In preparing it, the subject of the Law of War, which was previously left somewhat incomplete, as a consequence of the author's absence at a station distant from Washington, has been materially supplemented. Meanwhile there have been published two editions, of 1887 and 1893, (revised in 1895,) of a compendium of the text of this treatise, entitled an "Abridgment of Military Law," which has been adopted by the Secretary of War, and is now used, as the text book on Military Law for the instruction of the Cadets of the Military Academy. Pari passu with this edition there has been prepared by the author, and recently published, a new annotated edition of the "Digest of the Opinions of the Judge Advocates General of the Army," covering the period from the date of the preceding edition in 1880 to 1895. This work will be frequently referred to in the notes herein. Since the plates of the present edition have been cast, there has been completed in the War Department a new set of the Army Regulations, with which, when published, the Regulations mainly referred to in these volumes-those of 1889-may be compared and the new numbers noted. The most material portion of the new Regulations-those relating to COURTS-MARTIALhave been extracted and are inserted in the Appendix at the end of Volume II. WASHINGTON, D. C., November 1, 1895. |