{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/courts-martial-royal-navy-rules-1997/article-2",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/courts-martial-royal-navy-rules-1997/article-2.json",
  "legislation": "uksi/1997/170",
  "legislation_title": "The Courts-Martial (Royal Navy) Rules 1997",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/courts-martial-royal-navy-rules-1997",
  "path": "article/2",
  "kind": "article",
  "number": "2",
  "heading": "Interpretation",
  "text": "In these Rules—\n“accused’s friend” shall be construed in accordance with rule 13;\n“the Act” means the Naval Discipline Act 1957;\n“commanding officer”, in relation to an accused, means the officer who is for the time being in immediate command of the ship or naval establishment to which the accused belongs;\n“commencement of the trial” shall be construed in accordance with rule 34;\n“hearing for directions” shall be construed in accordance with rule 22;\n“the judge advocate”—\n(i) in relation to a court-martial, means the judge advocate appointed by or on behalf of the Chief Naval Judge Advocate to be a member of the court-martial;\n(ii) in relation to a hearing for directions, means the judge advocate appointed under rule 9(1)(a);\n“pre-trial hearing” shall be construed in accordance with rule 25;\n“the prosecutor” means the prosecuting authority or any prosecuting officer appointed by the prosecuting authority;\n“prosecution papers” has the meaning assigned to it in rule 7; and\n“special finding” shall be construed in accordance with rule 63.",
  "extent": null,
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [],
  "outstanding_effects": [
    {
      "type": "added",
      "affecting": "uksi/2005/1535",
      "affecting_title": "The Courts-Martial (Amendment) Rules 2005"
    },
    {
      "type": "subst",
      "affecting": "uksi/2005/1535",
      "affecting_title": "The Courts-Martial (Amendment) Rules 2005"
    },
    {
      "type": "am",
      "affecting": "uksi/2004/66",
      "affecting_title": "The Naval Discipline Act 1957 (Remedial) Order 2004"
    }
  ],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1997/170/article/2",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T12:27:05.922918+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}