Procedure Study Guide

The term procedure is used at the Naval Justice School to refer generally to the rules, regulations, and laws which exist for the administration of the military justice system. The purpose of the procedure course is to enable a military lawyer to understand how a particular case moves through the military justice system from the initiation of a complaint against a servicemember through the court-martial appellate review process. It is expected that, at the end of the course, the student will be able to provide professionally competent advice concerning nonpunitive measures, nonjudicial punishment, trial by court-martial, and the court-martial appellate review process. It is further expected that the student will be able to use the knowledge gained from the procedure course of instruction to function as an effective trial advocate in the military judicial system. This study guide is the primary resource for the procedure course. This text also is intended to be a convenient reference for use by Navy and Marine Corps judge advocates. As such, it provides a detailed discussion of the procedural aspects of the Uniform Code of Military Justice UCMJ, the Manual for Courts-Martial, 1995 MCM, and the Manual of the Judge Advocate General of the Navy JAGMAN. It should be noted, however, that this study guide can only be considered a starting point for legal research and not a substitute for the comprehensive legal research required for the effective practice of law in the military.