ARREST, Military. Before an officer or soldier, or other person subject to military law, can be brought to trial, he must be charged with some crime or offense against the rules and articles of war, and placed in arrest. The articles of war direct that whenever any officer shall be charged with a crime he shall be ar rested and confined in his barracks, quarters or tent, and deprived of his sword by the com manding officer, and that anon-commissioned officers and soldiers charged with crimes shall be confined until tried by a court-martial, or released by proper authority.* The arrest of an officer is generally executed through a staff officer; by an adjutant, if ordered by the com manding officer of a regiment ; or by an officer of the general staff, if ordered by a superior officer; and sometimes by the officer with whom the arrest originates. On being placed in ar rest an officer resigns his sword. It is cus tomary, except in capital cases, to allow an officers in arrest the limits of the garrison, or even greater limits, at the discretion of the commanding officer, who regulates his conduct by the dictates of propriety and humanity. A non-commissioned officer or soldier is confined in charge of a guard; but, by the custom of the service, the non-commissioned staff and the sergeants may be simply arrested. The articles of war declare no officer or soldier who shall be put in arrest or imprisonment shall continue in his confinement more than eight days, or until such time as a court-martial can be conveniently assembled."' It is declared by the articles of war that eno officer commanding a guard, or provost marshal, shall refuse to receive or keep any prisoner committed to his charge by any offi cer belonging to the forces of the United States; provided, the officer committing shall, at the same time, deliver an account in writing, signed by himself, of the crime with which the said prisoner is charged,* and it is also declared that eno officer commanding a guard or provost marshal shall presume to release any prisoner committed to his charge without proper au thority for so doing, nor shall he suffer any person to escape, on the penalty of being punished for it by the sentence of a court martial. Every officer or provost-marshal to whose charge prisoners shall be committed shall, within 24 hours after such commitment, or as soon as he shall be relieved from his guard, make report in writing to the command ing officer, of their names, their crimes, and the names of the officers who committed them.*
Thus the liberty of the citizen, under military law, so far as is consistent with the ends of justice, seems to be guarded with precautions little inferior to those which secure personal liberty under the civil laws of the State. The penalty of an officer's breaking his arrest, or leaving his confinement before he is set at liberty by his commanding officer, or by a su perior officer, is declared to be cashiering by sentence of a general court-martial. A court martial has no control over the nature of the arrest of a prisoner except as to his personal freedom in court ; the court cannot, even to facilitate his defense, interfere to cause a close arrest to be enlarged. The officer in command is alone responsible for the prisoners under his charge. Individuals placed in arrest may be released, without being brought before a court martial, by the authority ordering the arrest or by superior authority. It is not obligatory on the commander to place an officer in arrest on application to that effect from an officer under his command. He will exercise a sound dis cretion on the subject. But in all applications for redress of supposed grievances inflicted by a superior, it will be his duty, in case he shall not deem it proper to order an investigation, to give his reasons, in writing, for declining to act; these reasons, if not satisfactory, the complaining party may forward to the next common superior, together with a copy of his application for redress. An officer has no right to demand a court-martial, either on himself or on others; the general-in-chief, or officer competent to order a court, is the judge of its necessity or propriety. Nor has any officer who may have been placed in arrest any right to demand a trial, or to persist in considering himself under arrest, after he shall have been released by proper authority. An officer under arrest will not make a visit of etiquette to the commanding officer or other superior officer, or call on him, unless sent for; and in case of business he will make known his object in Writing. It is considered indecorous in an offi cer in arrest to appear at public places.