JUDGE-ADVOCATE, the title of an official attached to military commissions, or courts-martial, whose duties are analogous to those of prosecuting attorneys in civil courts; but whOse functions, in relation to military law, are also similar to those of a district attorney, or corporation counsel, in being of an advisory character. The appointment of judge-advocates for special courts rests in the authority which appoints the court, whether that be the president, the secretary of war, or the general of the army. But there is also in the U. S. army a corps of four judge-advocates, with the rank of major, who are under the general direction of the judge-advocate-general, and who can be detailed on courts-martial or military commissions, but are usually stationed at the head-quarters of the military departments, where they act as legal advisers to the depart ment commander, and may be appointed by them to court-martial duty. The official
duties of a judge-advocate during a trial by court-martial or military commission,• or examination by a court of inquiry, are as follows: preparation of the case for the prose cution, procuring of witnesses, administering the oath, opening the case for the prose cution with the necessary argument, questioning the witnesses, and submitting the case to the court. But besides these duties the judge-advocate has still another—seemingly anomalous in this connection—that of protecting the witness from improper or leading questions, and to that extent also acting as counsel for the accused. In the English military service the duties of the judge-advocate have been so far modified that he does not act as prosecutor, but solely in his advisory capacity in connection with the court, and as the recorder of its proceedings.