General Courts-Martial.

1240... Should the proceedings of a court-martial be disapproved for any informality or irregularity of the court, the particular irregularity or informality will be made known in general orders, so as to prevent, if possible, a recurrence of similar irregularities.

1241.... No person in the Navy shall be liable to be tried and punished by a court-martial for any offence which shall appear to have been committed more than three years before the issuing of the order for such trial, unless the person by reason of having absented himself, or some other manifest impediment, shall not have been amenable to justice within that time.

1242....The president of a general court martial may order an officer of the Navy, not above the grade of Lieutenant, or an officer of the marine corps, not above the grade of Captain, to act as its provost marshal, whose duty it shall be to hold in charge the person on trial; to be accountable to the court for the due appearance of such person whenever the court is assembled; to serve notices to witnesses, and to act otherwise as the police officer of the court.

1243....In the case of a trial of a petty officer, or person of inferior rating of the Navy, or of a non-commissioned officer, musician, or private of marines, the person to act as provost marshal may, if the president of the court thinks proper, be either a petty officer of the Navy, or a non-commissioned officer of marines.

1244....At the request of the president of a court of inquiry, or of the senior officer of a summary court-martial, the Commander of a vessel or station on board or at which it is held is to direct an orderly to be detailed to attend its meetings and execute orders.

1245....The defence made before a court-martial or a court of inquiry being a part of the official record, and the trial not being complete until the proceedings have been passed upon by the revising authority, it is strictly forbidden to any person who shall be tried by either court to publish, or cause or permit to be published, his defence, in whole or in part, until final action has been had in the case, on pain of such punishment as a court-martial may impose for disobedience of orders.

1246....In detailing officers for a court-martial or court of inquiry before which a medical, pay, marine, or engineer officer is to appear,

Summary Courts-Martial.

it is proper, if the exigencies and interests of the public service will permit, that one commissioned officer, or more, of the same department or corps as the person to be tried, should be placed upon it; and in detailing officers for a summary court-martial, it is equally proper, under like circumstances, if a non-commissioned officer, musician, or private of the marine corps is to be brought before it, that one or more marine officers should be of the number.

SECTION 3.

Summary Courts-Martial.

1247....In conformity with the ninth section of the "Act to provide a more efficient discipline for the Navy," the following rules and forms, approved by the President of the United States, are to be observed by summary courts martial convened under the authority of said act:

1. Summary courts-martial will adopt the same forms of proceedings and rules of evidence as naval general courts-martial, so far as they shall be applicable and not inconsistent with the conciseness and precision enjoined by the law, nor with the provisions of this general order.

2. The form of convening a summary court-martial will be by a brief written order addressed by the Commander of the vessel to the senior member of the court, stating the names and rank of the members of the court, and of the recorder, and of the time and place of meeting, and by written or verbal orders to the other members of the court and the recorder. The written order to the senior member will be appended to the record of the proceedings.

3. The record will state that the oath prescribed by the law was duly administered to each member and to the recorder in the presence of the accused.

4. If objection is made by the accused to any member of the court, it will be so stated in the record of proceedings, and made known, if the court think fit, to the Commander of the

Summary Courts-Martial.

vessel, who will, at his discretion, order another member of the court, or continue the member objected to.

5. The accused shall be furnished, before trial, with a written specification of the offence, or offences, for which he is to be tried. The specifications shall be as brief as practicable, without unnecessary repetition, or circumlocution, or accumulation of epithets, but explicit; and all offences or misconduct committed at any one time by the same individual, and intended to be charged against him, shall be comprised in the same specification, which shall be approved, before trial, by the officer ordering the court, and a duplicate of it be annexed to the record.

6. The accused shall not be required to plead guilty or not guilty to the specification; but if a plea of guilty be made, the court may, at its discretion, admit testimony as to the character of the offender, or in extenuation of the offence. And, in any case, the court may find the accused guilty of the whole or any part of the misconduct charged, according to the evidence, and adjudge punishment for so much as shall be found proved.

7. Witnesses shall be summoned by the recorder through the Executive Officer of the vessel, and the summons shall be obeyed, unless disapproved by the Commanding Officer for some reason to be stated in the record.

8. The court, if requested by the accused, may allow a commissioned, warrant, or petty officer to appear as counsel, and cross-examine witnesses in his behalf; but no written defence or argument, nor any protracted oral defence or argument, shall be admitted. Nor shall any testimony not clearly relevant be admitted, nor any documentary evidence be read to the court or appended to the record.

9. If more than one case be tried by the same court, the record of each case shall be separate; the order for convening the court shall be appended to the record of the first case, and be referred to in each subsequent record, so as to show that the proceedings of the court are continuous. And in each case the prescribed oath shall be administered anew to the members and the recorder of the court.

Boards.

SECTION 4.

Boards.

1248....Officers on boards are to take their seats in the same order

of rank or seniority as on courts-martial.

1249...The senior or presiding member is to preserve order, to decide upon matters relating to the routine of business, to decide upon a recess, and to adjourn the board from day to day, at and to such hours as, in his judgment, will be most convenient and proper for the transaction of the business before it. Should, however, an objection be made by another member of the board to an adjournment announced by the senior officer, a vote is to be taken with regard to it, and the decision of the majority is to govern.

1250....No board is to transact any other business than an adjournment unless at least two-thirds of the members be present.

1251....No member of a board, unless prevented by illness or some insuperable difficulty, ordered away by competent authority, or excused by the officer ordering it, is to fail in his attendance at the appointed times; and in case of such failure, the senior officer present of the board is to inform the officer ordering it of the fact, and also of the reasons of the failure, if known to him, in order that the vacancy may be supplied if necessary.

1252....A member absent when the investigation of a matter or case was held is not to vote upon a decision with regard to it; but, if necessary to arrive at a conclusion, a reinvestigation, with that member present, may take place, and thus he may bestow his vote.

1253....The junior member of a board is to be the recorder of its transactions, but the senior member is to draw the final reports, based upon the opinions of a majority, and these reports are to be signed by all the concurring members, and to have appended, over their signatures, the reasons of dissenting members.

1254....Members of a board are not to leave the vicinity of the place at which they are assembled unless authorized by the officer ordering it, or his superior.

1255....As distinct rules are framed for the Naval Academy, the

United States Naval Asylum.

above are not to apply to the boards held thereat, except when composed of officers not attached to it, or partly by such officers and partly by those who are attached to it.

ARTICLE XXXIII.

United States Naval Asylum.

1256....The Naval Asylum having been placed under the supervision and direction of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, subject to the immediate control of the Secretary of the Navy, the following regulations have been adopted for its government:

1. The object of the Asylum is to provide a comfortable home for "disabled and decrepit naval officers, seamen, and marines," who shall be entitled to the benefits of the institution.

2. The officers shall consist of a Governor, not below the grade of a Captain in the Navy, and a Commander, a Lieutenant, a Surgeon, and a Chaplain, to be taken from their respective ranks, together with a Secretary to the institution, a Master-at-Arms, a Matron, and such officers and laborers, embracing watchmen, cooks, laundresses, and attendants, as the department from time to time shall authorize.

3. Applicants for admission into the Asylum will be required to produce evidence of twenty years' service in the Navy. They must state their age, birth-place, and physical condition, the vessels in which they have served, the names of the Captains, and the dates of such service. They will also be required to produce a naval surgeon's certificate, stating that the applicant is not able to support himself by manual labor; and in cases where pensioned applicants desire to commute their pension for places in the Asylum, similar certificates will be required; nor will these regulations be deviated from except under extraordinary circumstances, or the written permission of the Secretary of the Navy.

4. In consideration of the liberal provision which has been made for the beneficiaries in the Asylum, they will be required,