Martial Law Question(s)

[Peter McCoy]

In a heated debate while watching Battlestar Galactica, myself, Droo and a friend of ours got onto the subject of Martial Law. Now while I've read the wikipedia page on the subject, I'm still unclear on a few things.

Wikipedia states that "Martial law is the system of rules that takes effect when the military takes control of the normal administration of justice."

By that definition I'm assuming the government is not replaced by the military in terms of decision-making, is that correct?

[Dasquian Belargic]

I always thought martial law meant that the military basically had free run to do whatever was necessary to keep the peace... which would usually include ignoring certain rules usually set in place by the government?

[Charley]

It means that the military usurps aspects of civilian law enforcement and jurisprudence. The government is still possibly in control (unless its a coup or junta or something) it just means that the domestic application of law and order is done by the armed forces.

[Captain Untouchable]

It means that the military usurps aspects of civilian law enforcement and jurisprudence. The government is still possibly in control (unless its a coup or junta or something) it just means that the domestic application of law and order is done by the armed forces.

What he said.

The reason that Battlestar gets confusing is that the military had already userped the civilian government beforehand; they'd declared martial law, and mounted a successful coup, hence the military taking over all decision-making as well.

Its probably worth noting that, in some nations, the military is "commanded" by the government anyway. The United States President is the Commander-in-Chief in the US; in the UK it's the Queen, with the authority delegated to her Prime Minister; etc. In those same countries, law enforcement and the judiciary system is autonomous of the government; so by declaring martial law, it actually allows the government to have direct control over a lot of legal issues, without any kind of independent oversight.

[Peter McCoy]

That's what I thought. Thanks guys, I appreciate it :)