XLIXAuthorities having Power to try Offences.
Any Offence triable under this Act may be tried and punished by Court-martial; and any Offence triable under this Act, not committed by an Officer, and not hereby made Capital, may, under such Regulations as the Admiralty may from Time to Time issue, be summarily tried and punished by the Officer in Command of the Ship to which such Offender belongs, subject to the following Restrictions ; (that is to say,)
(1)The Commanding Officer shall not have Power to award the Punishment of Penal Servitude:
(2)The Commanding Officer shall not have Power to sentence any Man, except a Deserter, or Man absent without Leave, to Imprisonment for a longer Period than Twenty-eight Days, nor to sentence a Deserter to Imprisonment for a longer Period than Three Calendar Months, nor a Man absent without Leave to Imprisonment for a longer Period than Six Weeks, nor to award Solitary Confinement for more than Seven Days at a Time with Intervals of not less than Seven Days between each Period of Solitary Confinement:
(3)Except in case of open Mutiny, no Man shall be sentenced by the Commanding Officer to Corporal Punishment until his Offence has been inquired into by One or more Officers appointed by such Commanding Officer, and his or their Opinion as to the Guilt or Innocence of the Prisoner reported to such Commanding Officer, and the Commanding Officer shall thereupon act as according to his Judgment may seem right.