Drumhead court-martial

Drumhead court-martial

A drumhead court-martial is a court-martial held in the field to hear urgent charges of offences committed in action. The term is said to originate from the use of a drumhead as an improvised writing table,[1][2] altar for religious services, [3][4] and a traditional gathering point for a regiment for orders or decisions.[5]

The earliest recorded usage is in an English memoir of the Peninsular War (1807).[6] The term sometimes has connotations of summary justice, with an implied lack of judicial impartiality, as noted in the transcripts of the trial at Nuremberg of Josef Bühler.[7] According to Bryant, such courts-martial have ordered lashings or hangings to punish soldiers (and their officers) who were cowardly, disobedient – or, conversely, acted rashly; and especially as a discouragement to drunkenness.[8]

See also

In popular culture

This kind of court-martial is referenced in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Drumhead". Captain Picard compares the investigation by Admiral Norah Satie to a drumhead trial.

References

  1. ^ Definition from Brewer's Dictionary
  2. ^ An example of an illustration from the Thirty Years War showing a drum used as a table at military executions: [1]
  3. ^ http://www.thisiskent.co.uk/letters/Scots-soldiers-parade-streets-Canterbury/article-538473-detail/article.html parade and drumhead service
  4. ^ http://www.maybole.org/Community/organisations/british/maybole_branch_rbl_scotland.htm Drumhead Service at Culzean Castle
  5. ^ http://www.mod.uk/DefenceInternet/Templates/LargeImageTemplate.aspx?img=/NR/rdonlyres/CB6226B7-22D6-4B0C-9FF7-008FF21A3916/0/CCT08127OUTUNC0210.jpg Her Majesty the Queen presents the RAF with the new colour at a Drumhead service, RAF Fairford. [Photo: Cpl Scott Robertson RAF]
  6. ^ 'Court martial, n. 1.b. drumhead court-martial', Oxford English Dictionary Online (2009), citing Sir Charles Shaw, Personal memoirs and correspondence, comprising a narrative of the war ... in Portugal and Spain (1837), II, 449.
  7. ^ Transcript at tne Nizkor project
  8. ^ Years of Victory (1802-1812), Arthur Bryant, 1944

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Drumhead court-martial — Drumhead Drum head , n. 1. The parchment or skin stretched over one end of a drum. [1913 Webster] 2. The top of a capstan which is pierced with sockets for levers used in turning it. See Illust. of {Capstan}. [1913 Webster] {Drumhead court… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • drumhead court-martial — n. [from the former use of a drum as the judges table] a summary court martial held in the field for trial of offenses committed during military operations or troop movements …   English World dictionary

  • drumhead court-martial — noun a military court convened to hear urgent charges of offenses committed in action • Topics: ↑military, ↑armed forces, ↑armed services, ↑military machine, ↑war machine • Hypernyms: ↑court martial * * * …   Useful english dictionary

  • drumhead court-martial — a court martial held, usually on a battlefield, for the summary trial of charges of offenses committed during military operations. [1825 35; so called from the use of a drumhead as a table during the court martial] * * * …   Universalium

  • drumhead court-martial — drum′head court′ mar tial n. mil a court martial usu. held on a battlefield • Etymology: 1825–35; so called from the use of a drumhead as a table …   From formal English to slang

  • drumhead court-martial — noun Etymology: from the use of a drumhead as a table Date: 1835 a summary court martial that tries offenses on the battlefield …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • drumhead court martial — n. informal brief court martial held on a battlefield for an offense that was committed during military operations …   English contemporary dictionary

  • drumhead court martial — noun a court martial held (originally round an upturned drum for a table) for the summary trial of charges of offences committed during military operations …  

  • drumhead court-martial — A summary military trial …   Ballentine's law dictionary

  • Court-martial — redirects here. For other uses, see Court Martial (disambiguation). The field court martial of the Finnish 15th Brigade in July 1944 A court martial (plural courts martial, as martial is postpositive) is a military court. A court martial is… …   Wikipedia

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