Mutiny Acts

The Mutiny Acts were an almost 200-year series of annual Acts passed by the Parliament of England, the Parliament of Great Britain, and the Parliament of the United Kingdom for governing, regulating, provisioning, and funding the English and later British Army.

The first Mutiny Act was passed in 1689 in response to the mutiny of a large portion of the army which stayed loyal to James II upon William III taking the crown of England.^[1] The Mutiny Act, altered in 1803, and the Articles of War defined the nature and punishment of mutiny until the latter were replaced by the Army Discipline and Regulation Act 1879 (42 & 43 Vict. c. 33).^[2] In 1881, this was in turn replaced by the Army Act – An Act to consolidate the Army Discipline and Regulation Act, 1879, and the subsequent Acts amending the Same.^[3] This was extended or amended or consolidated annually (the most recent update having been made in 1995). Today, mutiny by British forces is punished under the Armed Forces Act 2006.

Depending on events, additions, and changes within the established system more than one Mutiny Act might be passed within a given year. Within the empire specific geographical disturbances were sometimes governed by specific Acts, such as the Mutiny, East Indies Act 1754 (27 Geo. 2. c. 9), or the Mutiny, America Act from 1765 (5 Geo. 3. c. 33) to 1776 (16 Geo. 3. c. 11). A closely related series of Marine Mutiny Acts starting in 1755 (28 Geo. 2. c. 11) would regulate His Majesty's Marine Forces while on shore, and continue well into the 19th century.