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10 Mil. L. & L. War Rev. 127 (1971)
Military Obedience in Canadian Internal Penal Law and in Law of War

handle is hein.journals/mllwr10 and id is 119 raw text is: Canada.

MILITARY OBEDIENCE
IN CANADIAN INTERNAL PENAL LAW
AND    IN  LAW    OF WAR (1).
by
Lieutenant-Colonel John WOLFE,
Office of the Judge Advocate General.
A. - THE RIGHT TO GIVE AND THE DUTY TO OBEY ORDERS
IN NATIONAL PENAL LAW.
I. - The legal limits of the right to give orders.
Question 1. - Does the law of your country contain provi-
sions circumscribing the scope of the right to issue legally
binding orders ?
Does your legislation provide legal definitions of the term
( lawful orders ) ?
Answer. - Section 74 of the National Defence Act (hereinaf-
ter referred to as e NDA x) which creates the offence of dis-
obedience of a lawful command may be said to circumscribe the
right to issue legally binding orders to the extent that the section
is limited to olawful)) commands and to those given by a
e( superior officer ). Section 74 reads as follow:
74. Every person whe disobeys a lawful command of a superior
officer is guilty of an offence and an conviction is liable to impri-
sonment for life or to less punishment.
The expression < lawful command)) has not been defined
in legislation; however, < superior officer)) has been defined
by section 2(38) of the NDA to mean:
... any officer or man who, in relation to any other officer or man
is by this Act, or by regulations or by custom of the service, authori-
zed to give a lawful command to that other officer or man.
An example of custom of the service authorising one officer
to give a lawful command to another officer of equal rank is
that as between two officers of the rank of captain, belonging
to the same unit, and holding respectively the appointments
of transport officer and adjutant, the adjutant may give a
lawful command to the transport officer.
(1) The views expressed herein are those of the writer and do not represent
the views, official or unofficial, of the Government of Canada or the
Canadian Forces.

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