Qualified Martial Law a Legislative Proposal

In considering the powers and liabilities of the military in dealing with the citizen, the question of what a subordinate is to do when confronted by a conflict between the law and military orders is a difficult and interesting one. Sections 15 and 16 of the Code (the draft of which is submitted herewith), deal with illegal orders. The general rule is that persons engaged in the military service of the state or nation can find no justification in the illegal orders of a superior officer if such orders are so manifestly illegal that a man of ordinary sense could not reasonably suppose that the officer had legal authority or ground for giving them.