MILITARY COMMISSIONS. Special mili tary courts created during the occupation of con quered territory, for the trial of offenses which cannot by the rules of war be tried or punished by courts-martial, and yet which are not within the jurisdiction of any existing court. A mili tary- commission, unlike a court martial, is ex clusively a war court. It may be legally con vened and assume jurisdiction only in time of war or when the civil authority is suspended on account of the existence of martial law or military government. The powers and procedure of this class of military tribunals have not been defined by statute law nor have they even been expressly authorized by any act of Congress, although they have repeatedly been recognized by the legislative, executive, and judicial depart ments of the Government. According to usage the same rules which apply in the organization and procedures of courts-martial are held to` he applicable to military commissions, and their proceedings are subject to review in the same manner and by the same authority as courts martial. Certain offenses which in time of peace
are regarded as civil offenses become in time of war military offenses, and are triable by mili tary commission, even though the civil courts may be open and in the unobstructed discharge of their duties. During the Civil War and re construction periods capital offenses were fre quently tried by military c•onmiissions and the parties punished, although they were in neither the military nor the naval service, and in spite of the constitutional provision that all persons held for capital or otherwise infamous crimes. except when arising in the land or naval service, shall be tried by jury. Consult: Benet. Military Lau• and the Practice of Coarts-Martial (New York, 186S ) ; Birkheimer, illiary Go VC illnient and Martial Lair (Washington. 1892). See MILITARY LAW; COURTS, MILITARY; MILLIGAN. Ex PARTE.