CHAP. 3. Martial Law 427
aggrieved. It is of interest to reproduce here the main operative
section of the Indemnity Act, 1920, which, subject to certain provisos,
expressly restricted the indemnity afforded to the authorities to acts
done in good faith and in the public interest.
No action or other legal proceeding whatsoever, whether civil or Indemnity
criminal, shall be instituted in any court of law for or on account of Act, 1920,
or in respect of any act, matter or thing done, whether within or s-1 (*)•
without His Majesty's dominions, during the war before the passing
of this Act, if done in good faith, and done or purported to be done
in the execution of his duty or for the defence of the realm or the
public safety, or for the enforcement of discipline, or otherwise in
the public interest, by a person holding office under or employed in
the service of the Crown in any capacity, whether naval, military, air
force, or civil, or by any other person acting under the authority of
a person so holding office or so employed; and, if any such pro-
ceeding has been instituted whether before or after the passing of this
Act, it shall be discharged and made void. ...
In 1939 Parliament was not asked to supersede the jurisdiction Second
of the ordinary courts by conferring on courts-martial the power to Worici
try persons not subject to military law. When in 1940 it became
necessary to modernise the law of treason by creating the equivalent
offence of treachery, the bar on trial by courts-martial was lifted, but
only in respect of enemy aliens on the specific direction of the
Attorney-General: Treachery Act, 1940. Trial by court-martial
must be distinguished from trial by special civil courts. The Emer-
gency Powers (Defence) (No. 2) Act, 1940, which was passed under
the imminent threat of invasion, made it possible to substitute for a
central system of administration of the criminal law a system of special
war zone courts. These courts were only to exercise jurisdiction
if the military situation was such, on account of actual or immedi-
ately apprehended military action, that criminal justice must be
more speedily administered than it could be.by the ordinary courts.1
It was a condition precedent to the exercise of jurisdiction that the
Minister of Home Security should first declare a particular area to
be a war zone. The constitution of the war zone courts was essentially
that of civil courts of record. They were never required to sit. These
provisions only governed the procedure to be followed by the civil
courts in the event of invasion. They did not in any way affect the
common law powers of the military, but the fact that they were
enacted on the eve of invasion shows the utter abhorrence of our
people to any form of martial law, whatever be the academic
1 The Administration of Justice (Emergency Provisions) Act, 1939, had made
elastic provisions for the sittings of the ordinary courts "so that the Lord Chan-
cellor could adapt the whole judicial system to the requirements of unforeseen
crises." See Sir Cecil Carr, Concerning English Administrative Law (Cambridge
University Press), p. 81.