Report No. 169

2.5. Amendment of "Articles" in 1894.-

The amalgamation of the three armies maintained by the Presidencies into one in 1895 necessitated considerable amendments in the "Indian Articles of War". These amendments were effected by Act XII of 1894 and the Indian Articles of War, as altered by this Act, and by various minor amending Acts, (Acts of Governor-General in Council, XII of 1891, I of 1900, I of 1901, IX of 1901, XIII of 1904, and V of 1905) furnished the statutory basis of the Indian Military Code until 1911.

As time went on, however, and the Indian Army began to take its share in the imperial responsibilities of the British Army, it was found that an Act originally framed for three separate local forces, each serving as a rule in its own Presidency, failed to provide adequately for the discipline and administration of that army under modern conditions. Owing also to the mass of amendments super-imposed on the original articles, these were often difficult to understand and sometimes even self-contradictory.