Treatise on Naval Courts Martial

Originally published in 1792 this work was revised (incorporating new material) and corrected for the 1805 edition reissued here. As a ship''s purser and occasional Judge Advocate Delafons had considerable experience of advising in naval courts martial including first-hand involvement for the defence in the trial of Peter Heywood a midshipman on board H.M.S. Bounty during the mutiny of 1789. He intended this work to be a textbook for conducting judicial proceedings in the Royal Navy and it is also now a fundamental text for historians and researchers in both the legal and naval history of a period of British maritime supremacy. Delafons covers the subjects of jurisdiction evidence sentencing and the roles of individuals within the trial. He also makes a comparison between the law of the Navy and its practical applications and that of the civil courts and examines the development of the Naval Code itself.