Armed Forces Act 1971

37 Punishments for army and air-force offences dealt with summarily. U.K.

(1) The following subsection shall be substituted for subsection (3) of section 78 of the M1 Army Act 1955 (punishments on summary dealings with offences against military law by non-commissioned officers and soldiers), and also (but modified for that purpose by the substitution of “an airman” for “a soldier” in the first paragraph (a)) for subsection (3) of section 78 of the M2 Air Force Act 1955 (corresponding provision for offences against air-force law by non-commissioned officers and airmen):—

“(3) Otherwise, the commanding officer shall proceed to deal with the charge summarily; and if he records a finding of guilty, he may award one or more of the following punishments—

(a) if the accused is a soldier, detention for a period not exceeding twenty-eight days,

(b) fine,

(c) if the accused is a non-commissioned officer, severe reprimand or reprimand,

(d) where the offence has occasioned any expense, loss or damage, stoppages, and

(e) any minor punishment for the time being authorised by the Defence Council:

• Provided that no fine or minor punishment shall be awarded for an offence for which detention is awarded:

• And provided also that the amount of a fine that may be awarded—

(a) except in the case of an offence against section 70 of this Act, shall not exceed the amount of the offender’s pay for fourteen days or, where the offence was committed on active service, twenty-eight days, and

(b) in the said excepted case—

(i) in any case, shall not exceed the amount of the offender’s pay for fourteen days or, where the civil offence constituting the offence against that section was committed on active service, twenty-eight days,and

(ii) where the said civil offence is punishable by a civil court in England only on sum mary conviction, and is so punishable by any fine of a maximum amount less than the amount limited by sub-para graph (i) above, shall not exceed that maximum, and

(iii) where the said civil offence is punishable by a civil court in England on indictment by a fine of a maximum amount less than the amount so limited (whether or not it is also punishable on summary conviction) shall not exceed that maximum,

a day’s pay being taken for the purposes of this proviso, as regards a person found guilty of any offence, as the gross pay that is, or would (apart from any forfeiture) be, issuable to that person in respect of the day on which punishment is awarded in respect of the offence.”

(2) The following subsection shall be substituted for subsection (5) of section 79 of the M3 Army Act 1955 (punishments on summary dealings with offences against military law by officers and warrant officers), and also for subsection (5) of section 79 of the M4 Air Force Act 1955 (corresponding provision for offences against air-force law):—

“(5) If the appropriate superior authority records a finding of guilty, the authority may award one or more of the following punishments—

(a) except in the case of a warrant officer, forfeiture of seniority for a specified term or otherwise,

(b) fine,

(c) severe reprimand or reprimand, and

(d) where the offence has occasioned any expense, loss or damage, stoppages:

• Provided that the appropriate superior authority may not award both forfeiture of seniority and a fine:

• And provided also that the second proviso to section 78(3) of this Act shall have effect as respects fines awarded by virtue of this section as it has effect as respects fines awarded by virtue of the said section 78.”

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 The text of ss. 2–25, 27–32, 34–50, 52, 53, 55–63, 65, 66, 68, 70–75, 77(1), Schs. 2, 4 is in the form in which it was originally enacted: it was not reproduced in Statutes in Force and does not reflect any amendments or repeals which may have been made prior to 1.2.1991.

Marginal Citations

M1 1955 c. 18.

M2 1955 c. 19.

M3 1955 c. 18.

M4 1955 c. 19.