ART. 117. The recorder of a court of inquiry shall administer to the members the following oath: "You shall well and truly examine and inquire, according to the evidence, into the matter now before you, without partiality, favor, affection, prejudice, or hope of reward: so help you God." After which the president of the court shall administer to the recorder the following oath: "You, A B, do swear that you will, according to your best abilities, accurately and impartially record the proceedings of the court and the evidence to be given in the case in hearing: so help you God." ART. 118. A court of inquiry, and the recorder thereof, shall have the same power to summon and examine witnesses as is given to courts-martial and the judge-advocates thereof. Such witnesses shall take the same oath which is taken by witnesses before courts-martial, and the party accused shall be permitted to examine and crossexamine them, so as fully to investigate the circumstances in question. ART. 119. A court of inquiry shall not give an opinion on the merits of the case nquired of unless specially ordered to do so. ART. 120. The proceedings of a court of inquiry must be authenticated by the signatures of the recorder and the president thereof, and delivered to the commanding officer. ART. 121. The proceedings of a court of inquiry may be admitted as evidence by a court-martial, in cases not capital, nor extending to the dismissal of an officer: Provided, That the circumstances are such that oral testimony can not be obtained. ART. 122. If, upon marches, guards, or in quarters, different corps of the Army happen to join or do duty together, the officer highest in rank of the line of the Army, Marine Corps, or militia, by commission, there on duty or in quarters, shall command the whole, and give orders for what is needful to the service, unless otherwise specially directed by the President, according to the nature of the case. ART. 123. In all matters relating to the rank, duties, and rights of officers, the same rules and regulations shall apply to officers of the Regular Army and to volunteers commissioned in, or mustered into said service, under the laws of the United States, for a limited period. ART. 124. Officers of the militia of the several States, when called into the service of the United States, shall on all detachments, courts-martial, and other duty wherein they may be employed in conjunction with the regular or volunteer forces of the United States, take rank next after all officers of the like grade in said regular or volunteer forces, notwithstanding the commissions of such militia officers may be older than the commissions of the said officers of the regular or volunteer forces of the United States. ART. 125. In case of the death of any officer, the major of his regiment, or the officer doing the major's duty, or the second officer in command at any post or garrison, as the case may be, shall immediately secure all his effects then in camp or quarters, and shall make, and transmit to the office of the Department of War, an inventory thereof. ART. 126. In case of the death of any soldier, the commanding officer of his troop, battery, or company shall immediately secure all his effects then in camp or quarters, and shall, in the presence of two other officers, make an inventory thereof, which he shall transmit to the office of the Department of War. ART. 127. Officers charged with the care of the effects of deceased officers or soldiers shall account for and deliver the same, or the proceeds thereof, to the legal representatives of such deceased officers or soldiers. And no officer so charged shall be permitted to quit the regiment or post until he has deposited in the hands of the commanding officer all the effects of such deceased officers or soldiers not so accounted for and delivered. 5828-04-16 242 ATTACHMENT-REFUSAL CIVILIAN WITNESSES TO TESTIFY. ART. 128. The foregoing articles shall be read and published, once in every six months, to every garrison, regiment, troop, or company in the service of the United States, and shall be duly observed and obeyed by all officers and soldiers in said service. SEC. 1343, Revised Statutes. All persons who, in time of war, or of rebellion against the supreme authority of the United States, shall be found lurking or acting as spies, in or about any of the fortifications, posts, quarters, or encampments of any of the armies of the United States, or elsewhere, shall be triable by a general courtmartial, or by a military commission, and shall, on conviction thereof, suffer death. WRITS OF ATTACHMENT. Every judge-advocate of a court-martial shall have power to issue like process to compel witnesses to appear and testify which courts of criminal jurisdiction within the State, Territory, or district where such military courts shall be ordered to sit may lawfully issue. Section 1202, Revised Statutes. REFUSAL OF CIVILIAN WITNESS TO TESTIFY. Every person not belonging to the Army of the United States who, being duly subpoenaed to appear as a witness before a general court-martial of the Army, willfully neglects or refuses to appear, or refuses to qualify as a witness to testify or produce documentary evidence which such person may have been legally subpoenaed to produce, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, for which such person shall be punished on information in the district court of the United States; and it shall be the duty of the United States district attorney, on the certification of the facts to him by the general court-martial, to file an information against and prosecute the person so offending, and the punishment of such person, on conviction, shall be a fine of not more than five hundred dollars or imprisonment not to exceed six months, or both, at the discretion of the court: Provided, That this shall not apply to persons residing beyond the State, Territory, or district in which such general court-martial is held, and that the fees of such witness, and his mileage at the rates provided for witnesses in the United States district court for said State, Territory, or district shall be duly paid or tendered said witness, such amounts to be paid by the Pay Department of the Army out of the appropriation for the compensation of witnesses: Provided, That no witness shall be compelled to incriminate himself or to answer any questions which may tend to incriminate or degrade him. Act of March 2. 1901 (31 Stat. at Large). |