National Defence Act

Marginal note:Jurisdiction

• 164 (1) A superior commander may try an accused person by summary trial if all of the following conditions are satisfied:

  • (a) the accused person is an officer below the rank of lieutenant-colonel or a non-commissioned member above the rank of sergeant;

  • (b) having regard to the gravity of the offence, the superior commander considers that his or her powers of punishment are adequate;

  • (c) if the accused person has the right to elect to be tried by court martial, the accused person has not elected to be so tried;

  • (d) the offence is not one that, according to regulations made by the Governor in Council, the superior commander is precluded from trying; and

  • (e) the superior commander does not have reasonable grounds to believe that the accused person is unfit to stand trial or was suffering from a mental disorder at the time of the commission of the alleged offence.

• Marginal note:Limitation period

  (1.1) A superior commander may not try an accused person by summary trial unless the summary trial commences within one year after the day on which the service offence is alleged to have been committed.

• Marginal note:Prohibition on presiding

  (2) Unless it is not practical, having regard to all the circumstances, for any other superior commander to conduct the summary trial, a superior commander may not preside at the summary trial of a person charged with an offence if

  • (a) the superior commander carried out or directly supervised the investigation of the offence;

  • (b) the summary trial relates to an offence in respect of which a warrant was issued under section 273.3 by the superior commander as a commanding officer; or

  • (c) the superior commander laid the charge or caused it to be laid.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (3) A superior commander may try an accused person who is of the rank of lieutenant-colonel by summary trial in any circumstances that are prescribed by the Governor in Council in regulations.

• Marginal note:Sentences

  (4) Subject to the conditions set out in Division 2 relating to punishments, a superior commander at a summary trial may pass a sentence in which any one or more of the following punishments may be included:

  • (a) severe reprimand;

  • (b) reprimand; and

  • (c) fine.