Glossary


Terms & Glossaries of Shipping and Trading

Articles of War

Articles of War are regulations governing the military and naval forces of UK and USA; read to every ship's company on commissioning and at specified intervals during the commission.

What is Articles of War?

The Articles of War are a set of regulations drawn up to govern the conduct of a country's military and naval forces. The first known usage of the phrase is in Robert Monro's 1637 work His expedition with the worthy Scot's regiment called Mac-keyes regiment etc. (in the form "Articles of warres") and can be used to refer to military law in general. In Swedish, the equivalent term Krigsartiklar, is first mentioned in 1556. However, the term is usually used more specifically and with the modern spelling and capitalisation to refer to the British regulations drawn up in the wake of the Glorious Revolution[3] and the United States regulations later based on them.