---

Armed Forces Bill

My experience is that the president would have made himself familiar with the possible sentences before the court sits. Certainly, in my experience, which I admit is many years old, the members of the court have always had a very good discussion with the president and he will elicit from each member what he feels. Of course the judge advocate is very much in play here; I cannot recall sitting on a court martial where, as the noble and gallant Lord said, the president does not ask the advice of the judge advocate—for example, he will say, ““Are we on the right lines? What do you think?”” Moreover, as the noble Earl said, the minimum and the maximum are given. In my day, the president, certainly on getting a plea and working out whether the accused was guilty or not, always asked the junior member of the court martial first what his view and judgment were, so that the junior officer was not embarrassed by anything that might be said afterwards. I see where the noble Lord is going, but I think of the soldier who expects to be sentenced and punished by the court, who will now be punished by the judge advocate. He will wonder what the president and the other members of the court felt.