Treatise on Naval Courts Martial [Paperback]

This thorough, first-hand textbook of eighteenth-century naval law is still a central resource for historians of the subject.Published in 1805, Delafons's study of naval courts martial was intended as a textbook for practical jurisprudence. It is now an invaluable historical resource, written from first-hand experience and covering a wide range of practical legal and judicial procedures, as well as offering an historical view of their development.Published in 1805, Delafons's study of naval courts martial was intended as a textbook for practical jurisprudence. It is now an invaluable historical resource, written from first-hand experience and covering a wide range of practical legal and judicial procedures, as well as offering an historical view of their development.Originally published in 1792, this work was revised (incorporating new material) and corrected for the 1805 edition, reissued here. As a ship's purser and occasional Judge Advocate, Delafons had considerable experience of advising in naval courts martial, including first-hand involvement for the defence in the trial of Peter Heywood, a midshipman on board H.M.S. Bounty during the mutiny of 1789. He intended this work to be a textbook for conducting judicial proceedings in the Royal Navy, and it is also now a fundamental text for historians and researchers in both the legal and naval history of a period of British maritime supremacy. Delafons covers the subjects of jurisdiction, evidence, sentencing, and the roles of individuals within the trial. He also makes a comparison between the law of the Navy and its practical applications and that of the civil courts, and examines the development of the Naval Code itself.Introductory preface; 1. Of the nature of naval courts martial; 2. Of particular places to which the jurisdiction of naval courts martial extends in regard to offences cognizable by them; and of such, when committed out of those local places or districts; 3. Of courts of inquiry; 4. Of persons sulÓ,