Nautical Standard (Newspaper) - July 8, 1848, London, Middlesex 438 NAUTICAL cretion that may secure the service 4is-*| * LIABILITY OF NAVAL OFFICERS FOR and the country from the attendant PRIVATE upon such exhibitions as have latterly conferred Natal like species of the genus upon the Prince Regent a painful degree of are susceptible of the common passions - and frailties of they should never Whatever shield of patronage may be held forget this infirmity of for the more of public the rank the higher is the degree of be able to throw up a barricade of votes attached to the man whose Indiscretion Admiralty overcomes his sense of Many acts may have but one course open to They must be deeply prejudicial tp the offended institute a full and sufficient inquiry into the for which courts-martial afford no adequate it is only by the adoption of this por a court-martial has no power to course that they can justify their own conduct award pecuniary damages for y v y in the eyes of the They must either show that these proceedings are justified by the common usage of the or to their eternal that they have exercised too little discretion in selecting the offending parties as the recipients of Let us pause a moment upon the task which their Lordships have thus before them Their Lordships have to it is competent to an officer in command to cast to the winds all notions of the ordinary conventions observed by set decency at defiance make his own caprice the measure of sense of injury stand in the place and substitute the definition of Their Lordships will have to and what is more to justify to the eyes Its jurisdiction is essentially criminal and its judg ments It is on this that civil actions are maintainable in common-law courts against officers for exceeding their or for exercising them in an or improper It was formerly pretty generally understood in the service that an officer could have no remedy against ill-treatment received from his superiors in the course of professional except by bringing the offender to a and subjecting him to the penalties of the articles of Such an opinion without any good In the case of Swinton v. the being captain of a put the purser into confinement for three days without a proper and then released him on of the service an officer who can so far forget t his position as to descend to the 2" shift of reading a letter intended Z private Captain Molloy and recovered e v In this no want of uprightness and of condemning the suspected to the decision o writer without a tittle of of The law of England requires the most satisfactory evidence of a prisoner's guilt before he is The martial law of England is based upon the common its rules of evidence are the will their Lordships in the difficult task imposed upon will they justify the conduct of an officer who the victim of his upon the mere suspicion that he is the author of letters which he thinks in the capricious exercise of his judicial pronounce supposing the objection of the lack of evidence to be got by confession or their Lordships make the futile effort of justifying an in a most unusual way and for an offence punishes the object obnoxious tp his If private letters are to be made evidence of libellous the offence lies not in the writing in the How will their Lordships justify before the of public opinion the conduct of an officer whp forces the accused by threats of inflicting corporal make public would be entirely and thus punish the victim of his suspicions for an act in the commission of which he himself is Rhadamanthus habet auditque In commenting upon this most unfortunate we would wish as much as possible to avoid saying aught that is personally offensive to any It is neither our province nor our pleasure to be public but we do think that it is due to the and even more to Captain that the means should be afforded him of justifying himself in the eyes of his of ihe If the Admiralty pass it bVer they will unjustly to Captain Martin so to the Justice demands the decency requires it. If if it the Board of Admiralty of approving what the or they must of the suspicion of an injustice by the to which they ought to be would be most rested entirely upon the circumstance of having committed an act of The punishment inflicted upon an officer for an offence not coming within the range of discipline is an undue assumption of authority and as if an officer should punish one of his crew for the expression of opinions and in no wise connected with the This principle was decided in the case of Warden v. The common defence in cases of this is. a justification of the conduct of the as having done nothing but what is agreeable to the ordinary discipline of the And in cases where the conduct of the officer is not emanating from angry feeling or unreasonable exercise of such a defence would be Lord Mansfield in Wall trying the legality of acts done by military officers in the exercise qf their particularly beyond where cases may occur without the possibility of application for proper great latitude ought to be and ought to suffer for a slip of The principal inquiry to be made by a court of justice how the heart and if there appears nothing wrong great latitude will be allowed lor or But on the other ithe heart is and oppression appear to have or aggravated the or other injury complained they shall not cover themselves with the thin veil of legal nor escape under i cover of a justification the most technically from that which it is your province and duty to inflict on so scandalous an abuse of public Even the infliction of an unjust or illegal sentence of a court-martial is a good cause of action against all or a portion of the members of whiph it This is the remarkable case of Lieutenant of Lieutenant Fry brought an action Admiral Sir Chaloner the President of a and the under the direction of Lord Chief Justice gave a verdict the with An action will also lie for improperly degrading or for a we have been actuated by a to remove an that quarter-deck decisions are hot subject to The error is fraught and the state of the law shows how important it that holding responsible command should possess the recommendation of nor Is it less imperative upon thp Board of to be watchful lest they authority in indiscreet Nothing is more detrimental to the service than the occurrence of which may be made the subject matter of disputes relating to discipline are greatly to be and are attended with the very worst consequences in the moral effects which they produce upon the This long deferred boon to the deserving seamen and marines of the British Navy we are rejoiced to about to be But to it will be are we indebted for this welcome intelligence Was it through the zealous advocacy of the naval officers who have seats jn the House of that justice is at length done to the claims of the subordinate this emulative which was accorded to the Army years is through their exertions extended to the sister advocate of the is the generous-hearted having earned for himself distinction in the is now exerting himself to promote the welfare and honour of that service of he was so bright an It is owing to the strenuous perseverance of the Duke of Richmond that the claims of his gallant companions in arms are to be commemorated by an honourable and it is to the zeal of his Grace that the naval veterans are indebted for a similar mark of their Sovereign's We cannot refrain from expressing our regret that either portion of the Royal Service should obtain any advantage over the but it is too evident that honours and rewards fall most frequently to the lot of the The beneficial effects of the Warrant have long since been pressed upon the attention of the Lords of the but it is not until we perceive privates of the Guards wearing as many as six few of these soldiers are without this which gives an addition of one penny per diem each chevron the guardians of the Navy determine that the Warrant alike be conferred on the seamen and marines of her Majesty's ADMIRALTY MOVEMENTS We continue to receive important and the arduous duties performed by the Lords of They have been to to witness another ship It is now that not a ship shall go off the or a frigate proceed to without express trains being set in motion to take the Board to the Are the Superintendents Qf qut Dockyards so incapable of moving a ship from the stocks into the the scribe that the are compelled to their offices and witness the operation Or has the their Port tWe so so that Loids trust and take duties for which others are perform we not but - lor their to the working of the say no boon rather to old war pf the The in are to be reduced at this m oi
