Serjeant at law

“ A district court martial, with wider powers, including57 the reduction of a sergeant to the ranks, is composed of three officers; the president must not in any case be below the rank of captain, and usually is a major, and he and the two junior officers who form the tribunal usually belong to other regiments than that of the accused. Military law differs in many respects from civil law ”

“ The attendant keeps scourging the man about the shins with the knout, until he can bring forward someone who on his behalf can satisfy the law. If he has no friend to go bail for him, the sergeant, grasping him by the neck, drags him along and subjects him to blows, until before the court to plead his cause. ”

“ Sergeant: Well, we have to do our duty in the force. Haven’t we the whole country depending on us to keep law and order? It’s those that are down would be up and those that are up would be [Pg 79] down, if it wasn’t for us. Well, hurry on, you have plenty of other places to placard yet, and come back here then to me. ”

“ It is, therefore, sir, in my opinion, necessary to the advancement of military knowledge, that, as a centinel is, for excelling in his profession, advanced to the degree of a serjeant, the serjeant, who continues his application, and performs his duty, should, in time, be honoured with a commission.
It may be objected, indeed, that serjeants, though they are skilful commanders in war, can very seldom arrive at any remarkable skill in politicks, and though they should be so fortunate as to gain estates, could never be of any use as the representatives of a borough ”

“ Sometimes special services were required from the holders; these were called Serjeants, and a tenure was said to be by Serjeanty. Special services, though usually military, now and again had to do with the administration of justice. A man enjoyed his plot because he was coroner, keeper of the peace, summoner, or what not; and, over and above the land, he had the fees of the office. A few offices, chiefly legal, came to have no land attached—were only paid in fees. ”

“ The sergeant of the law is another prominent figure, wary and wise, discreet and dignified, bustling and busy, yet not so busy as he seemed to be, wearing a coat of divers colors, and riding very badly. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Any enlisted person on active duty with the armed forces who is not a member of the same unit as the accused shall be eligible to serve on general and special courts-martial for the trial of any enlisted person who may lawfully be brought before such courts for trial, but he shall serve as a member of a court only if, prior to the convening of such court, the accused personally has requested in writing that enlisted persons serve on it. ”

“ All these boards are hung side by side, and there is an unwritten law that should a man be reading or looking at one board, the sergeant representing another branch of the service, or another regiment, is not permitted to speak to him until he has passed on. As soon as he has left the board, any of the recruiting officers is at liberty to speak to him. ”

“ Kite. O dear, sir! I am your most obedient servant. [Saluting the Constable.] I fancy, sir, that your employment and mine are much the same; for my business is to keep people in order, and, if they disobey, to knock them down; and then we are both staff officers.
Const. Nay, I'm a serjeant myself—of the militia—Come, brother, you shall see me exercise. ”

“ A non-commissioned officer who during the exercise of a battalion, regularly stands or moves behind each officer, commanding or acting with a platoon or company. When the ranks take open order, and the officers move in front, the covering serjeants replace their leaders; and when the ranks are closed, they fall back in their rear.
Drill Serjeant. An expert and active non-commissioned officer, who, under the immediate direction of the serjeant major, instructs the raw recruits of a regiment in the first principles of military exercise. ”

“ The Secretary of War was by the same law directed to discharge from service at the request of parents all persons under the age of eighteen years who might have enlisted in the army, and it was made an offense punishable with loss of commission for any officer knowingly to enlist a person less than sixteen years of age. ”

“ In important cases, a serjeant was usually retained as principal manager and chief representative at the trial, and generally made the statement of the case in court, while one or more ordinary barristers got up the evidence and aided in the examination of witnesses; no serjeants have been appointed since 1868. ”

“ To contribute to this purpose, Congress made elaborate provision in the act for retaining in the service officers who had proved their capacity and fitness for command and for retiring or discharging those who, for any reason, were found to be unfit. Every step of this process is committed to military tribunals, made up of officers who, by experience and training, should be the best qualified men in the country for such a duty, but with their action all subject, as we shall see, to the supervisory control of the President of the United States. ”

“ The field-officers' court is the best form for war, viz., one of the field-officers-the lieutenant-colonel or major —can examine the case and report his verdict, and the colonel should execute it. Of course, there are statutory offenses which demand a general court-martial, and these must be ordered by the division or corps commander; but, the presence of one of our regular civilian judge-advocates in an army in the field would be a first-class nuisance, for technical courts always work mischief. Too many courts-martial in any command are evidence of poor discipline and inefficient officers. ”

“ When convening a court-martial, the convening authority shall appoint as members thereof such persons as, in his opinion, are best qualified for the duty by reason of age, education, training, experience, length of service, and judicial temperament. No person shall be eligible to sit as a member of a general or special court-martial when he is the accuser or a witness for the prosecution or has acted as investigating officer or as counsel in the same case. ”

“ No more having in Household; but every of them, when he is present in Court, at night, a gallon of ale; and for winter livery, one candle wax, two candles p'is, one talshed; rushes [and] litter for their chamber of the Serjeant Usher all the year. They pay for the carriage of their proper harness and bedding; and every of them to have in to this Court, one honest servant. By the Statutes of the Noble Edward, were thirty Serjeants of Arms, sufficiently armed and horsed, riding before his Highness when he journeyed by the country for a Garde de Corps du Roi. ”

“ Corporals and sergeants are called "non-commissioned officers," because they receive a warrant from their colonel countersigned by the adjutant as authority of rank, in place of a commission from the President of the United States.
The labors of soldiers, privates, corporals, or sergeants are not usually arduous, except in case of war or other like emergency. Their daily routine is no more monotonous than men's ordinary pursuits in civil life, with the one exception that they are always under the command of others ”

“ You're off duty, I think, sergeant—can you come with me?"
"I am, sir. Always happens so when there's anything doing," muttered the sergeant, discontentedly. "Here's another of our people that ain't, though," as a second sergeant forced his way through the group, followed by a constable. ”

“ One of the most important duties which a regimental officer has to discharge, is that which devolves upon him as a member of a court-martial. In order to qualify a young officer to take his seat as a member, he is generally made to attend all courts-martial held in his battalion, for at least six or twelve months after he joins it, and at the expiration of one or other of these periods, is ordered to be placed on the roster as qualified for that duty. ”

“ G. S. A.
Serjeants' Rings (Vol. v., pp. 59. 92. 110.) .
—The happiest motto which comes to my recollection is that adopted by the first serjeants who were called after the decision of the Court of Common Pleas in January, 1840, overturning the warrant issued by King William IV., which opened the court to all members of the bar. Five new serjeants were then called, who gave rings with this motto, in allusion to the restoration of their rights:—
"Honor nomenque manebunt." ”

“ 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. ”

“ If on the date of final judgment a servicemember is not on appellate leave and more than 6 months have elapsed since approval of the sentence by the convening authority, before a dishonorable or a bad-conduct discharge may executed, the officer exercising general court-martial jurisdiction over the servicemember shall consider the advice of that officer's staff judge advocate as to whether retention of the servicemember would be in the best interest of the service. ”

“ A “lance-serjeant” is a corporal holding the appointment and performing the duties, but not having the rank of serjeant. The serjeant-major in the British service is a “warrant-officer,” although in the cavalry and artillery the ranks of “troop,” “squadron” or “battery serjeant-major” are non-commissioned and correspond to the “colour-serjeant” of infantry. This last officer is the senior non-commissioned officer of a company, and has, besides his duties in the colour-party, the pay and accounting work of his unit. ”

“ No non-commissioned officer or soldier shall inlist himself in any other regiment, troop, or company, without a regular discharge from the regiment, troop, or company, in which he last served, on the penalty of being reputed a deserter, and suffering accordingly. And in case any officer shall knowingly receive and entertain such non-commissioned officer or soldier, or shall not, after his being discovered to be a deserter, immediately confine him, and give notice thereof to the corps in which he last served, the said officer shall by a court-martial be cashiered. ”

“ The most valuable officer, the one who has the greatest responsibility, is the sergeant. The true sergeant is born, not made—he is the priceless gift of the gods. He is so highly prized that when found he is never promoted, nor is he allowed to resign. ”

“ With the exception of the rank of lance-sergeant, which admits a corporal to the sergeants’ mess and takes him out of the barrack-room without a corresponding increase of pay, all ranks from corporal upward count as promotions, and can only be reduced by way of punishment by the sentence of a court martial. A regimental court martial, which has power to reduce a corporal to the ranks and inflict certain limited punishments on a private, is composed of three officers of the unit concerned. ”

“ Seventhly, Grand serjeanty is a benefice of an improper nature, even though it be reckoned a military one, because it is reduced to a certainty. Grand serjeanty is a certain service done by the body of a man to the person of the king, and is of two kinds; military, which is to be done either in or out of the realm; and not military, which is to be done within the realm. Military, as when lands are given on condition of carrying the banner of the king, or his lance, or to lead his army, that is, to be his constable ”

“ The sergeant--he was a sergeant--made short work of the clearance, even managing, by dint of an assurance that he would listen to all she had to say afterwards, to dislodge "Sarah Eliza Warren." Then he turned to me.
"Now, perhaps, you will tell me what this means. If you're the householder, as you say, you yourself ought to turn anyone out of your own house you want to turn out, as a policeman has no right to come into a private house unless an actual charge is to be preferred. I don't know what you've been doing, but you seem to be responsible for something very like a riot." ”

“ If the accused shall be of the grade of lieutenant, or higher, the said commandant shall himself be the judge, and if the latter shall be the accused, the senior commandant of the province shall name as judge an officer who holds a higher grade, unless the same senior commandant shall himself have brought the suit. ”

“ As it stands admitted that the statute is of more limited scope than is apparent on its face, to an untrained reader, at least, the question is whether it is to be read as applying to all advanced officers who have been on active service, or only to all such officers upon the active list. ”

“ An ensign is the lowest commissioned officer in a company of foot; after him come the sergeant and corporal. Buonaparte was called by his soldiers, ‘The Little Corporal.’ There are other posts of authority beside what I have mentioned, for the discharge of particular duties. Every officer is as liable to punishment if he break the articles of war, as a common soldier is; and then, if a superior officer act improperly to the officers beneath him, they sometimes send him a round-robbin. ”