Records of the Judge Advocate General's Office

Division within LCO

1920-1999

Records of the Judge Advocate General's Office relating to the courts martial of military offenders.

Administration files are in LCO 53, with the Judge Advocate General's case index database of Army and RAF court martials in LCO 60.

For further records of the Judge Advocate General see:

Public Record(s)

English

• Lord Chancellor's Department, Office of the Judge Advocate General of the Forces, 1972-1972
• Lord Chancellor's Office, Office of the Judge Advocate General of the Forces, 1948-1972
• War Office, Judge Advocate Generals Office, 1905-1923
• War Office, Office of the Judge Advocate General, 1923-1935
• War Office, Office of the Judge Advocate General of the Forces, 1935-1948

2 series

Subject to 30 year closure unless otherwise stated

Topics

Air Force

Armed Forces (General Administration)

The office of the judge advocate or Judge Advocate General can be traced back at least to the Civil War. The functions of the office were to make arrangements for courts martial, prosecute military offenders before them and record the proceedings. In 1905 a Judge Advocate General was appointed as part of the War Office. On 1 October 1948, following the reports of the Army and Air Force Courts-Martial Committees 1938 and 1946 a separation between the prosecuting and judicial functions was effected with the prosecuting functions passing to new Directorates of Legal Services in the War Office and Air Ministry.

The Judge Advocate General retained his judicial functions but was placed under the Lord Chancellor instead of the Secretaries of State for War and Air. To provide for appeals against conviction from courts martial a Courts-Martial Appeal Court was also established under the Courts-Martial (Appeals) Act 1951. This act also made a number of provisions for appointments etc to the Judge Advocate General's Office.

The current Judge Advocate General's Office provides Judge Advocates at courts martial and military courts in the United Kingdom and abroad and post trial legal advice on courts martial and other legal matters to the Army, Air Force and Ministry of Defence.