Armed Forces Discipline Act 1971

Offences - Miscellaneous offences

74: Offences against the civil law of New Zealand

You could also call this:

"Breaking New Zealand's laws can lead to punishment, even if you're in the armed forces"

Illustration for Armed Forces Discipline Act 1971

If you do something or don't do something that would be against the law in New Zealand, you can commit an offence. This is called a civil offence. You can commit this offence anywhere, not just in New Zealand. If you are found guilty of a civil offence, you can be sentenced. The sentence will depend on what the punishment is for the civil offence. You can be sentenced to the same punishment as the civil offence, or to a lesser punishment. There are some rules about what punishments you can get. You can only get punishments that are listed in clause 1 of Schedule 2 or clause 1 of Schedule 3. If you are charged with a civil offence, you can still be found guilty of a different civil offence. You can be sentenced to the punishment for that other offence. There are some civil offences that you cannot be tried for by the Court Martial if they happened in New Zealand. These include treason, murder, manslaughter, sexual violation, or bigamy. You need the consent of the Attorney-General to be tried for these offences. If someone dies because of something you did or didn't do, it is considered to have happened where the act or neglect happened, not where the person died. Murder includes helping someone to commit suicide. You can be tried for murder or manslaughter even if you only helped someone to commit suicide. This is still considered to be murder.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM402781.

This page was last updated on 1 January 2026 — View changes

Topics:

Crime and justice > Criminal law

73: Conduct prejudicial to service discipline, or

"Breaking Army Rules that Hurt Discipline"

75: Parties to the commission of offences against this Act, or

"Helping someone commit a crime makes you a part of the crime too"

Part 2Offences
Miscellaneous offences

74Offences against the civil law of New Zealand

Every person subject to this Act commits an offence against this section who, whether in New Zealand or elsewhere, does or omits any act which would, if done or omitted in New Zealand, be an offence against any Act other than this Act (in this section referred to as a civil offence).
Every person convicted of an offence against this section is liable to be sentenced in accordance with the following provisions:
if the civil offence is punishable by a fixed punishment, he shall be sentenced to that punishment:
if the civil offence is punishable by a maximum punishment, he may be sentenced to—
1. a punishment not exceeding that maximum; or
2. a punishment that, under this Act, is less severe than imprisonment:

Notwithstanding anything in subsection (2), no person who is convicted of an offence against this section shall be liable to any punishment of a kind that is not specified in clause 1 of Schedule 2, or clause 1 of Schedule 3.
Where a person is charged with an offence against this section and the corresponding civil offence is one in respect of which, if he were tried for the civil offence before a civil court in New Zealand, that court could convict him of a civil offence other than the one charged, he may nevertheless be convicted of an offence against this section in respect of that other civil offence, and may be sentenced to the punishment prescribed in respect of that other civil offence in accordance with the provisions of subsection (2).
Except with the consent of the Attorney-General, a person subject to this Act may not be tried by the Court Martial for an offence against this section which is alleged to have been committed in New Zealand if the corresponding civil offence is treason, murder, manslaughter, sexual violation, or bigamy.
Where the corresponding civil offence is murder or manslaughter, an offence against this section shall be deemed, for the purposes of subsection (4), to have been committed at the place of the commission of the act or occurrence of the neglect which caused the death, irrespective of the place of the death.
For the purposes of subsections (4) and (5), the term murder includes inciting, counselling, procuring, aiding, or abetting suicide.

Notes

Section 74(2A): inserted, on 1 January 1986, by section 18 of the Armed Forces Discipline Amendment Act 1985 (1985 No 199).
Section 74(4): amended, on 1 July 2009, by section 20 of the Armed Forces Discipline Amendment Act (No 2) 2007 (2007 No 98).
Section 74(4): amended, on 27 May 1988, by section 4 of the Armed Forces Discipline Amendment Act 1988 (1988 No 89).