Morrison Waite

“ Shooting with intent to kill is a civil crime, but shooting by a soldier of the army standing guard over a prison, with intent to kill a prisoner confined therein, is not only a crime against society, but an atrocious breach of military discipline. ”

“ Under this article, when the offence is one not recognized by the laws regulating civil society, there can be no punishment by confinement in a penitentiary. The same is true when the offence, though recognized by the civil authorities, is not punishable by the civil courts in that way. But when the act charged as 'conduct to the prejudice of good order and military discipline' is actually as crime against society which is punishable by imprisonment in the penitentiary, it seems to us clear that a court-martial is authorized to inflict that kind of punishment. ”

“ The sixty-second article provides that the offender, when convicted, shall be punished at the discretion of the court, and the ninety-seventh article does no more than prohibit the court from sentencing him to imprisonment in a penitentiary in a case where, if he were tried for the same act in the civil courts, such imprisonment could not be inflicted. ”