The Nevada Democrat

What Is Martial Law? At the present time the significance of a term so much used, and with so little accurate sense of its meaning, becomes unusually important. Bouvier defines martial law as "a code established for the government of the army and navy of the United States," whose principal rules are to be found in the articles of war, prescribed by the act of Congress. But Chancellor Kent says this definition applies only to a military law, while martial law is quite a distinct thing, and is founded on paramount necessity and proclaimed by a military chief. Martial law is generally and vaguely held to be a suspension of all ordinary civil rights and processes, and as such approximates closely a military despotism. It is an arbitrary law, originating in emergencies. In times of extreme peril to the State, either from without or from within, the public welfare demands extraordinary measures. And martial law being proclaimed, signifies that the operation of the ordinary legal delays of justice is suspended by the military power, which has for the time become supreme. It suspends the operation of the right of habeas corpus; enables persons charged with treason to be summarily tried by court-martial instead of grand jury; justifies searches and seizures of private property, and the taking possession of public highways and other means of communication. Involving the highest exercise of sovereignty, it is, of course, capable of great abuse, and is only to be justified on emergencies of the most imperative and perilous nature.