The Military Justice System: an introduction

The Service Justice System provides a legal framework that ensures Service personnel are subject to a single disciplinary code that applies wherever they are serving.

The disciplinary systems of the three services – the Army, the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force – were drawn together under a common system by the Armed Forces Act 2006. While the Service Justice System mirrors the criminal law in England and Wales as closely as possible it also provides an avenue to enforce standards that are distinctive to the Armed Forces.

This note provides a short introduction to the different parts of the system, including the Court Martial process, the role of the Commanding Officer and the Service Prosecution Authority, and the separate role of the Service Complaints Commissioner. It briefly notes some of the issues raised by Members during the current Government.