Military law literature in India was established in 1930 by General C.H. Harrington out of a perceived necessity in order to avoid potential injustice within and outside of the armed forces. Military law is a body of law which governs how a member of the armed forces may behave, and as with all forms of law it is subject to periodic changes. The field is based upon official Acts of the Indian government, plus a number of unofficial writings on theoretical applications of law and how it may be changed.
General
Military law provisions govern the role of the Indian Army during peace and war formulated in the form of Statutes, Rules and Regulations. It is a written code which has seen periodic changes and review, apart from conventions (customs) of service.
Official publications mainly take the form of the Army Act, 1950; Army Rules 1954; and Regulations for the Army, 1987 (in short RA). The 1958 Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and the Armed Forces Tribunal Act, 2007, and are also relevant legislation. Another significant but obscure provision is Notes to Indian Military and Air Force Law, commonly referred as NMAFL. For reasons not known, RA and NMAFL continue to be inaccessible to scholars and the public.
There are two aspects significant for the purpose of this discussion. Firstly, military law publications were called by different names in the earlier years. However, these were all official publications. Law being complex and technical in nature, these text were not easy to comprehend and apply. The same called for a need to draft ‘notes’ or ‘comments’ thereto. These were prepared and duly inserted by the authorities, whose identity was not indicated. Secondly, military law was included in the syllabus for retention and promotion examinations for military officers. This was done with a view to make the officers study and assimilate relevant legal provisions necessary for enforcement of a disciplinary code amongst the men under their command. A need therefore, existed for publication of books that could explain, guide and amplify the rules. Thus such handbooks were required not only for application of law by the officers for unit routine but also for their understanding while preparing for obligatory examinations.
Infrequent actions were also taken to bring out precise and other publications at command and corps level for dissemination of military law. These too were all in-house publications.
Early works
The growth of Indian military law literature emerged from sheer necessity. This need was acknowledged by General C.H. Harrington GBE, KCB, DSO, DCL, the then General Officer Commanding in Chief of Quetta-based Western Command on 28 October 1930 in a foreword to the book titled Handbook of Military Law by Capt. R.J. Wilkins and W.S. Chaney. He wrote,
Military and Cantonment Law in India, published in 1904, is perhaps the oldest publication still available on military law. The author in his preface clarified the object of his work was to supply what is believed to be a want by supplementing for India the Manual of Military Law, first published by the War Office in England in 1899.
Between the Two Wars
Court Martials in India was authored by Major LM Peet, officiating Assistant Judge Advocate General, Eastern Command. This 1923 publication was a paperback pocket edition of about in size. The publication carries valuable inputs for the conduct of courts martial. It would amaze one to find that common mistakes listed in the book are still often repeated today.
Indian Military Law by Lt. Col. ST Banning, CBE was printed in Great Britain. It was published “on the urgent request of several officers of the Indian Army who had studied the subject with (the author) while preparing for their examinations.” Another book by Banning, Military Law, had by then already run into 18th edition. Yet another notable work by the author was titled Military Law Made Easy.
Notes on Military Law (published 1935, reprinted 1942) was issued by General Headquarters, India. It carried a preface by General AB Haig, Adjutant General in India.
Post Independence
Handbook of Military Law by C. Sanjeevarow Nayudu was perhaps the first book post independence on military law. The author had declared in the preface that he was induced to write the book driven by the extreme need and usefulness of a military handbook. The foreword was written by Mr. B.R. Ambedkar, at the time Minister for Law, Government of India. Ambedkar admitted that “for some reason Military Law has not attracted the attention of students of Indian Law and there are very few books on the subject”.