Record of Proceedings

(1) The proceedings of courts-martial shall be recorded in accordance with the following provisions– (a) the proceedings of a court-martial shall be recorded in writing in accordance with the appropriate form set out in the Third Schedule to these Rules and in sufficient detail to enable the confirming officer to follow the course of the proceedings and to judge the merits of the case; (b) when there is no shorthand writer present the evidence should be taken down in narrative form as nearly as possible in the words used, 81 provided that if the court, judge advocate, prosecutor or accused consider it necessary any particular question and answer shall be taken down verbatim– (c) when an objection, submission or application is made during a trial at which there is no shorthand writer, a record shall be made of the proceedings relating to such objection, submission, or application if, and in such detail as, the court or judge advocate thinks fit, provided that if the prosecutor or accused so requests a note shall be made of the objection, submission or application, the grounds therefor, the advice of the judge advocate (if any) thereon and the decision of the court– (d) when any address by the prosecutor or the accused or summing up of the judge advocate is not in writing and there is no shorthand writer present, it shall only be necessary to record so much of such address or summing up as the court or judge advocate thinks proper, provided that if the prosecutor or accused so requests a note shall be made of any particular point in such address or (e) there shall not be recorded in the record of the proceedings any matter not forming part of the trial; but if any comment or report seems to the court to be necessary, the president may forward it to the proper military authority in a separate document. (2) When a shorthand writer has been appointed to act at a trial by court-martial in pursuance of rule 24, a transcript of the short-hand note of the proceedings shall only be made of that portion of the proceedings which relates to any charge upon which the accused has been found guilty and such other portions of the proceedings as may be required by the confirming officer or in the event of the accused being found not guilty of all the charges, the officer who would have been the confirming officer if the accused had been found guilty of any of the charges.