Let it be also noted that an officer can inflict a punishment on any other officer inferior in rank to himself, to whatever squadron he may belong, and can similarly punish officers of other regiments; and, as stated before, any officer in the navy can punish an officer in the army of inferior rank, and vice versâ!
Recent events in France give special interest to this subject, and I will therefore give some account of various other punishments which can be inflicted upon French officers without enabling them to appeal to a court-martial.
The question is, indeed, one of such high interest at the present juncture that I will quote verbatim from the Army Regulations:
"When an officer commits a fault, which—without being such as to entail the loss of his commission or his being sent before a court-martial—is still serious enough to require a heavier punishment than those above described, he can be suspended (placed in non-activité) or his commission can be cancelled (ils peuvent être mis en réforme)."
The non-activité, which means the temporary exclusion from the service, is determined by decree of the President of the Republic upon the report of the Minister of War.
The "superior authority" decides as to the causes which may necessitate the placing of an officer in non-activité, a disciplinary measure taken in cases of less serious a nature than those for which an officer may lose his commission (peut-être mis en réforme—c'est-à-dire, l'exclusion définitive de l'armée[6]).
The place of an officer who has been suspended (non-activité par suspension d'emploi) is not filled up during a year, and he can be sent back to his regiment before the expiration of that period.
An officer placed in non-activity par retrait d'emploi remains in that position for an unlimited period, but at the end of three years a court of inquiry (un conseil d'enquête) is called upon to give its opinion as to whether the officer ought to be cashiered or not (si l'officier doit être mis en réforme).
When the officer commanding a regiment considers that an officer under his orders cannot remain en activité either on account of misconduct or on account of neglect of duty, or else through incapacity, he details his complaint against the said officer in a report he sends to the Major-general commanding his brigade. He specifies whether he considers that the officer ought to be suspended for a time or permanently (si l'officier doit être mis en non-activité par suspension ou par retrait d'emploi), and sends with his complaint a list of the various punishments inflicted on the officer, a copy of the officer's notes, and, if necessary, documents relating to the facts upon which the demand is based.