Negligent Homicide in Military Law

Abstract

The U. S. Court of Military Appeals, in a case handed down early in its history, stated, [I]t is our view that unlawful homicide through simple negligence is an offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.' Setting aside for a moment the sweeping nature of this pronouncement which, if literally followed, would make any tort proximately resulting in the death of another punishable as a crime, provided only that it was committed by a person subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice,2 it is interesting to note that such an offense was not recognized at common law,3 is not recognized as an offense in any state in the United States today in the absence of statute, and such statutes are actually few,4 and is not specifically made punishable by the Uniform Code of Military Justice. How then does it happen that the tremendous community of soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines, coast guardsmen, and others subject to trial under the Uniform Code of Military Justice are held to such a degree of care and confronted with penal sanctions5 in the absence of its use? The purpose of this article is to review the way this offense crept into military law and to consider its scope. As noted, the common law did not recognize any crime of homicide involving simple negligence alone. The sole homicidal cri e involving negligence was that of involuntary manslaughter, and there the negligence had to be culpable or gross, that is, negligence indicating a serious disregard