GENERAL PROVISIONS
reference to "what we now refer to as
military law and was expressly recog-
nized by Article I, § 8, of the (federal)
Constitution."15 (Clauses 14 and 16
grant Congress the power to pass laws
for organizing and disciplining the
armed services.)
One authority has written that in
England :
"The term 'martial law' has in the
progress of time changed its signifi-
cation. From earliest periods of which
we have authoritative records the
sovereigns of England, when engaged
in wars, found regulations for the
government of their troops neces-
sary .... They constituted the 'martial
law' of the early days, and were
properly applicable only to sol-
diers . . . ."16
It has been said elsewhere that:
"Much of the confusion and doubt
as to its [martial law's] meaning
II. THE GOVERNOR'S USE OF MILIT
ERATIONS; SOME ILLUSTRATIONS
A. THE VSE OF MILITARY RULE CON-
SIDERED IN REFERENCE TO THE
STATE CONSTITUTION
The Maryland Constitution provides
that it is the governor who "shall take
car? that the Laws are faithfully exe-
cuted"19; that he "shall be the Com-
mander-in-Chief of the land and naval
forces of the State;20 and that he "may
15Ex parte Zimmerman, 132 F.2d 442, 448
(9th Cir. 1942) (Haney, J. dissenting).
16 berkheimer, supra note 11, at 372.
17 14 encyclopedia. britannica 984 (14th
ed.) quoted in Ex parte Zimmerman, 132 F.2d
442, 448 (9th Cir. 1942).
18 In Ex parte Zimmerman, 132 F.2d 442,
448 (9th Cir. 1942), Judge Haney remarks
that state constitutional provisions such as
Article 29 embodied the view that "martial
law was pure military law."
19 md. const, art. II, §9.
20 md. const, art. II, § 8.
300
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would have been avoided if modern
writers had been careful to confine the
term to its original meaning as used
by Hale and Coke, namely the law
applied to the army and nothing else,
the law known as 'military law.' "17
It is reasonable to conclude (since
authorities agree and no dissent has
been found) that to the subjects of the
Stuart Kings "martial law" referred
to the summary law applicable to the
King's fighting forces; that it meant the
same to Stuart colonials; that in the
early state constitutions, such as Mary-
land's, a provision was directed to the
evil which had been overcome in
England only after three centuries' ex-
perience;18 that, in particular, Article 32
of the Maryland Declaration was in-
tended only to prohibit military trial
of the civilian, and that only misuse of
the term "martial law" would lead one
to conclude that the Article prohibits
martial rule.
ARY RULE; CONSTITUTIONAL CONSID-
call out the Militia to repel invasions,
suppress insurrections, and enforce the
execution of the laws."21
The legislature has provided that :
"The Governor shall have the power
in case of insurrection, invasion,
tumult, riot, breach of peace or im-
minent danger thereof, or to enforce
the laws of this State, to order into
service of the State any part of the
militia that he may deem proper."22
The statute is clear that the executive
need not wait until the firebrand has
appeared; "imminent danger" is suffi-
cient circumstance to warrant the Gov-
ernor's using the militia to halt civil
violence.
21 Ibid.
22 md. code ann. art. 65, § 8 (1957).
First enacted in 1922 (ch. 490, § 7).
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