Within a State the activities of civilians may impinge upon the armed forces in various ways. This chapter will consider how, if at all, civilians may come within military jurisdiction and the effects of having done so. Chapters 5, 6 and 7 will deal, inter alia, with the way in which international and national law requires civilians, having no connection with the armed forces, to be treated by soldiers during an armed conflict or civil disturbance within a State and when taking part in multinational forces.

Although civilians might perform some functions previously carried out by members of the armed forces or they might accompany them within their own State or abroad they will not necessarily be members of those armed forces. The very notion of subjecting civilians to military jurisdiction, otherwise than during armed conflict, appears to be illogical. They are not being trained for war for which adherence to a military discipline system is considered to be a necessary prerequisite and the justification for its application. Within the territory of their own State civilians can be placed on trial for any alleged breaches of the criminal law committed by them and be tried by the ordinary civilian courts. Even where there is an armed conflict taking place (whether of an international or of a non-international kind) and the civilian courts are continuing to operate it is difficult to find a convincing reason why they should, instead, come under military jurisdiction.