ABSTRACT
Sir,—It is probable that many of your readers are aware of the provisions of the Mutiny Acts with reference to the liability of soldiers to support their wives and children. By the 40th section of the Mutiny Act of 1872 (which follows the provision of previous Mutiny Acts), it is enacted that “no soldier shall be liable, by any process whatever, to appear before any justice of the peace or other authority whatever…for any original debt not amounting to 30l., or for not supporting or maintaining, or for not having supported or maintained…any relation or child which such soldier or person might, if not in Her Majesty’s Service, be compellable by law to relieve or maintain, or for neglecting to pay to the mother of any bastard child, or to any person who may have been appointed to have the custody of such child, any sum to be paid in pursuance of an order on that behalf.”
