Legal background Service justice system
The AFA 2006 contains most of the primary legislation for the service justice system. The service justice system is the current disciplinary regime for the armed forces. It applies to service personnel (referred to in the Act as "persons subject to service law") wherever they are in the world. The regime also applies to some civilians, for example, when they are living or working with the armed forces on certain bases overseas. They are referred to in the AFA 2006 as "civilians subject to service discipline".
	The service justice system in the AFA 2006 creates a system for dealing with "service offences"; defined in section 50 of the AFA 2006. These are mainly set out in Part 1 of the AFA 2006. There are specific service offences relating to discipline in the armed forces. They include, for example, insubordination or disobedience to lawful commands. These are referred to as "service disciplinary offences". It is also a service offence for a service person (or civilian subject to service discipline) to commit an act which is an offence under the criminal law of England and Wales; or would be an offence if it were done in England and Wales; see section 42 of the AFA 2006. Such offences are known as "criminal conduct offences".
	The AFA 2006 sets out the circumstances in which service offences can be dealt with by a commanding officer or service courts. In summary:
Summary hearings: There is summary jurisdiction by which low level offending can be dealt with by a service person’s commanding officer. The service offences which can be dealt with in this way are set out in sections 52 to 54 of, and Schedule 1 to, the AFA 2006. A service person has the right to elect trial by Court Martial instead of being tried summarily (section 129 of the AFA 2006) and has a right to appeal to the Summary Appeal Court (see below).
The Court Martial: All service offences may also be investigated by the service police and prosecuted by the independent Service Prosecuting Authority before the Court Martial. The jurisdiction of the Court Martial is set out in section 50 of the AFA 2006. Commanding officers are obliged to ensure service police are aware of serious offending (see sections 113 and 114 of the AFA 2006). While capable of dealing with all service offences (even those that would be summary-only offences in England and Wales) the Court Martial has – in broad terms – similar powers and practices to the Crown Court in England and Wales. In trials, the Court Martial consists of a judge advocate (a civilian judge) and three to seven lay members (see section 155 of the AFA 2006). The lay members are normally officers and senior non-commissioned officers who perform a similar function to the jury in Crown Court proceedings. The Court Martial has similar sentencing powers to the Crown Court.
The Service Civilian Court: The Service Civilian Court consists of a judge advocate who tries civilians subject to service discipline for low level offences (Part 11 of the AFA 2006). Its purpose is to deal with service disciplinary offences (insofar as they are relevant to civilians) which would typically be handled by commanding officers if the person being tried was a service person and criminal conduct offences that would be dealt with by a magistrates’ court in England and Wales.
The Summary Appeal Court: This court hears appeals by service personnel against sentence or conviction in summary proceedings before their commanding officer (section 141 of the AFA 2006). It consists of a judge advocate and two lay members who will be serving officers or warrant officers (section 142 of the AFA 2006). Appeals are by way of a rehearing (see section 146 of the AFA 2006).
The Court Martial Appeal Court: There is a right to appeal convictions or sentence in the Court Martial to the Court Martial Appeal Court, established by the Court Martial Appeals Act 1968. The Court Martial Appeal Court has similar functions and powers to the Criminal Division of the Court of Appeal in England and Wales, is staffed by the same judges and follows the same procedure. Appeals from the Court Martial Appeal Court are made to the Supreme Court.