Authorised officer

“ The acts of an officer de facto, within the sphere of the powers and duties of the office he assumes to hold, are as valid and binding with respect to the public and third persons as if they had been done by an officer de jure. ”

“ The object of this law is to confer on the commander of troops whatever liberty of action the case demands. He has the power even to go beyond the regulations, in circumstances of urgency and pressing necessity. The extraordinary measures he may take on these occasions may require their execution without delay. The staff-officer has but one duty before obeying, and that is to submit his observations to the general, and to ask his orders in writing. ”

“ The company officers must sustain the noncommissioned officers in the exercise of their authority, except, of course, when such authority is improperly or unjustly exercised. If they do wrong, they should be punished the same as the privates, but if it be simply an error of judgment they should merely be admonished. A noncommissioned officer should never be admonished in the presence of privates. ”

“ Subject to the provisions of the Constitution, a senior police officer shall be appointed, promoted and confirmed by the Public Service Commission or the relevant Personnel Board established under the Constitution, as the case may be. ”

“ The reason of the authority to grant the allowance is obvious. By an independent command, at a separate post, the officer is subject to additional expense, and an increase of duty. An officer may be said to command at a separate post, when he is out of the reach of the orders of the Commander in chief, or of a superior officer, in command in the neighbourhood. He must then issue the necessary orders to the troops under his command; it being impracticable to receive them from a superior officer. ”

“ And it shall be the special duty of the Secretary of War to keep for constant reference of the Commander-in-Chief a full list of names of persons nominated for office, or elevation, by officers of the army, with the name and rank of the officer nominating, stating distinctly but briefly the grounds for such notice or nomination. The Commander-in-Chief shall not have power to remove or punish any officer or soldier; but he may order their arrest and trial at any time, by court-martial. ”

“ A police officer may, pursuant to a special authorisation, place a cordon around the target area of the special authorisation or any part of it, for the purpose of exercising a special power specified in the special authorisation. ”

“ When a person is found thus openly in the occupation of a public office, and discharging its duties, third persons having occasion to deal with him in his capacity as such officer are not required to investigate his titled, but may safely act upon the assumption that he is a rightful officer. ”

“ At any time before an executive authorization ceases to have effect, an officer of the department concerned may apply to an authorizing officer of the department for the renewal of the executive authorization. ”

“ With the exception of general officers, all officers of the standing army, the reserve, the landwehr, and those of the retired list are subject to the laws of the court of honor. The court to investigate the conduct of a field-officer is made up of the field-officers of the division to which the officer belongs. ”

“ Every detachment not conducted by a commissioned officer, shall have written permission from a field officer, or officer commanding a regiment, or the officer of the police if it be a detachment going for necessaries ”

“ Mechanical in its movements, not unfrequently malignant in its designs, officer after officer, earnest in purpose, but in some instances perhaps deficient in detail, had been sacrificed to an absolutism that could order the charges, detail the Court, play the part of principal witness for the prosecution, and confirm the proceedings.
"Our volunteer force will never amount to much, until we attain the exact discipline of the French service," was the frequent remark of a General of Division. ”

“ On one condition, then, that you do not interfere with our men in the discharge of their duty, merely pointing out the articles you claim as your property, and that you allow the officer on duty to bring them here, to my office, without opposition. ”

“ But if, as is admitted, the commanding officer, in the plenitude of military power, was authorized to make the order within his department, all human beings included in the proclamation thereby acquired a vested title to their freedom, of which neither Congress nor President could dispossess them. ”

“ But the idea of an officer implies the existence of an office which he holds. It would be a misapplication of terms to call one an 'officer' who holds no office, and a public office can exist only by force of law. ”

“ Our inquiry must be, is he an officer? If an officer, under the words of the Constitution, he is excluded. If not an officer, we cannot exclude him by law.
An extensive meaning has been given to the word office. How far such a construction of the meaning of this word is warranted, I leave for others to decide. That all contractors are not officers I am certain. A man, for instance, makes a contract with government to furnish supplies. He certainly is not an officer, according to the common and known acceptation of that word. ”

“ To avoid the clerical work involved by the carrying out of the re-attesting of the whole of the citizen forces, partially paid and Volunteer, under the new Act it was provided that every officer, non-commissioned officer and man who did not, in writing, notify his intention to sever his connexion with the forces owing to the new conditions, would continue in the service, and the date for the beginning of his period of service under the new Act, namely, three years, would be entered in his existing attestation papers by the respective commanding officers. ”

“ My impression therefore is, that in a mixed company of civilians, &c., no officer is entitled to take rank higher than the civil title incorporated in his commission would imply, apart from his grade in the service to which he belongs. ”

“ Some idea of the unpleasant condition of affairs is shown by another extract from the same letter.
'Officers have been put under arrest by their commandant, and courts-martial have been demanded, and which have likewise been requested by the officers in defence of their conduct, but no inquiry into the conduct of any individual above the rank of a non-commissioned officer can take place, and the consequences will be obvious to your Lordship where so little harmony prevails between the commandant and his officers. ”

“ We agree with the latter interpretation that the availability of an officer as law member was intended by Congress to be a matter within the sound discretion of the appointing authority. Ordinarily the 'availability' of military personnel who are subject to assignment by an appointing authority is understood to depend upon a discretionary determination by the superior. ”

“ We think the words, 'officers or enlisted men in the regular or volunteer army or navy, or both,' were intended to include all men regularly in service in the army or navy; and that the expression, 'officers or enlisted men,' is not to be construed distributively, as requiring that a person should be an enlisted man, or an officer nominated and appointed by the president, or by the head of a department, but that it was meant to include all men in service, either by enlistment or regular appointment, in the army or navy. ”

“ They cannot be directed to act under the orders of any civil officer. The commanding officers of the troops so employed are directly responsible to their military superiors. Any unlawful or unauthorized act on their part would not be excusable on the ground of any order or request received by them from a marshal or any other civil officer. ”

“ In all countries he derives his authority to command from the highest power of the government. In the United States he is assigned by order of the President, who alone can relieve him, and who also fixes the limits or boundaries of the department. His duties are mainly derived from customs of service. The only duties defined by statute relate to general courts-martial, which he can convene, and his action is final on all cases tried by such courts, except in the case of a general officer, or where the sentence of the court extends to the loss of life or the dismissal of a commissioned officer. ”

“ When, then, an officer presents, with his account, an authentic document or certificate of his having commanded a post or arsenal, for which an order has been issued from the War Department, in conformity with the provisions of the Army Regulations, allowing double rations, his right to them is established, nor can they be withheld, without doing him a wrong, for which the law gives him a remedy. ”

“ Any Officer, non-commissioned officer or private of the Militia who, when his Corps is lawfully called upon to act in aid of the civil power refuses or neglects to go out with such Corps, or to obey any lawful order ofhis superior Oficer, shall incur a penalty, if an Oficer not exceeding forty dollars, if a non-commissioned officer or private, not exceeding twenty dollars for each offence. ”

“ Congress passed a resolve recommending this step to the States, and advising that the Commander-in-chief should be consulted in making the appointments; that those officers should be promoted who had distinguished themselves for bravery and attention to their duties; that no officer should be appointed who had left his station without leave; and that all the officers to be appointed should be men of honor and known abilities, without particular regard to their having been in service before. [111] This was but a partial remedy for the defects of the system. ”

“ In principle it is desirable that the duties of absent Officers should be performed by the Officer next in the order of appointment in their own respective departments, but as it may not be found practicable in all cases to act upon that rule, it is still to rest with the Governor, or Lieutenant Governor for the time being, to select the Officers, of Government to whom they shall think proper to entrust the duties of the absent officers. ”

“ In the discharge of his ordinary duties, he has no distinct command; his duties consist in details of service, and not in active military command. The order of the 16th of March 1816, directing double rations to be allowed to officers commanding military departments, is construed to relate to the geographical sections of country, into which the two divisions of the army are divided, and which were denominated departments; and intended to designate the extent of actual command, given to the officer commanding each department ”

“ Does the bearer of the Flag of Truce only bring letters, they are to be taken from him, and a receipt given for them; if he insists upon being allowed to proceed, permission must be asked, which being obtained, the person proceeding is blindfolded; a Non-commissioned Officer leads his horse, and brings him to the General's quarter. ”

“ Except as may be provided by regulations made by the Chief Executive under section 21 (2) and except in the case of an officer who is one of the officers designated in section 6 (2) of the Public Service Commission Ordinance (Cap. 93) , the Chief Executive shall not inflict any punishment upon an officer under sections 9 to 11 or require an officer to retire under section 12 without first consulting the Public Service Commission. ”

“ Soldiers are not to be appointed as orderlies. Officers are entitled to have one servant, appointed by mutual consent (of the soldier and of the officer) ; wages also to be settled by mutual consent, but there should be no more than one servant to each officer, Army doctor, Army clerk, or Priest.
(6) Saluting is abolished for men as well as for units.
(7) No soldier is to be punished or fined without trial. At the Front the Commanding Officer is entitled, on his own responsibility, to take the necessary steps, including armed force, against disobedient subordinates. ”

“ It is proposed to put the entire police management under charge of an officer of the volunteer army, and to give him a deputy chief, who shall be a resident of the Island, and, if possible, experienced in police matters. Similarly, to put officers of the army of junior rank as inspectors in the principal districts—six in number—and to give to each a deputy inspector, who will be a resident. ”

“ And to this end, the officer aforesaid is hereby authorized and required to employ so many persons as he may deem necessary to overcome such force, and to retain them in his service, so long as circumstances may require. ”

“ Court martials for Companies, Regiments, Brigades, etc., shall be called by the chief officer of each command, on complaint to him by any officer, or any five privates, in such command, and shall consist of not less than five nor more than nine officers, and privates, one-half of whom shall not be lower in rank than the person on trial, to be chosen by the three highest officers in the command, which officers shall not be a part of such court. The chief officer of any command shall, of course be tried by a court-martial of the command above his own. ”

“ No Person obliged to serve as Returning Officer more than Once, unless otherwise provided by an Act of the Province. XVI. Provided always, and be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid, That no Person shall be obliged to execute the said Office of Returning Officer for any longer Time than One Year, or oftener than Once, unless it shall at any Time be otherwise provided by any Act of the Legislative Council and Assembly of the Province, assented to by His Majesty, His Heirs or Successors. ”

“ And all that is required when there is an office to make an officer de facto, is that the individual claiming the office is in possession of it, performing its duties, and claiming to be such officer under color of an election or appointment, as the case may be. It is not necessary that his election or appointment be valid, for that would make him an officer de jure. ”