This case raises important questions concerning the statutory jurisdiction of general courts-martial of the Navy.
In 1942 the petitioner was serving a second enlistment in the Navy. Upon the surrender of the United States forces on Corregidor petitioner became a war prisoner of Japan. After liberation in September, 1945, petitioner was brought back to the United States and hospitalized. He was restored to duty in January, 1946. March 26, 1946, he was granted an honorable discharge because of expiration of his prior enlistment. The next day he re-enlisted, obligating himself to serve four years 'subject to such laws, regulations and articles for the government of the Navy as are or shall be established by the Congress * * * or other competent authority * * *.'
About a year later, petitioner was served with charges directing his trial by a general court-martial of the Navy. The specifications included charges that during his prior enlistment the petitioner had maltreated two other naval enlisted men who were also Japanese prisoners of war and who were members of groups of prisoners working under petitioner's charge. Petitioner filed a plea in bar of the trial, one ground being that the court-martial was without jurisdiction to try him for alleged offenses committed during a prior enlistment at the end of which he had received an honorable discharge. His plea was overruled. He was acquitted on some specifications but was convicted on others that charged maltreatment. His sentence was ten months confinement, reduction from chief signalman to apprentice seaman, and dishonorable discharge from the Navy.
Petitioner then brought this habeas corpus proceeding in a federal district court charging that the court-martial judgment was void because of want of statutory power to convict him for an offense committed if at all during his prior enlistment. That court sustained petitioner's contention and ordered his release from custody. 73 F.Supp. 990. The Court of Appeals reversed, one judge dissenting. 168 F.2d 503. The importance of the statutory construction, which appeared to affect the court-martial powers of the Army as well as the Navy, caused us to grant certiorari.
Aside from naval regulations to which reference will later be made, court-martial authority to try and to punish petitioner for his prior enlistment conduct primarily depends on the language in Article 8 (Second) of the Articles for the Government of the Navy, 34 U.S.C. § 1200, art. 8, 34 U.S.C.A. § 1200, art. 8, subd. 2, which particularly provides that 'such punishment as a court-martial may adjudge may be inflicted on any person in the Navy * * * who is guilty of * * * maltreatment of, any person subject to his orders * * *.' The Government contends that this language given its literal meaning authorized the court-martial to try and to punish petitioner for conduct during a prior enlistment. It is pointed out that petitioner was 'in the Navy' when the offense was committed and when he was tried; this language it is argued brings his case under the Article. In aid of this interpretation the Government emphasizes that during the whole period of time involved, petitioner was continuously 'in the Navy' except for an interval of a few hours between his honorable discharge and his re-enlistment. This latter circumstance we think cannot justify the statutory interpretation urged. For if that interpretation is correct, court-martial jurisdiction would be satisfied if a sailor was merely 'in the Navy' when the offense was committed and when brought before the court-martial, regardless of the duration of any interim period out of the naval service, provided the prosecution we not barred by the two-year limitation period provided by 34 U.S.C. § 1200, art. 61, 34 U.S.C.A. § 1200, art. 61.