The officer "may allow local civil tribunals to try offenders," but
of course this does not require that he shall do so. If any State or
Federal court presumes to exercise its legal jurisdiction by the trial
of a malefactor without his special permission, he can break it up and
punish the judges and jurors as being themselves malefactors. He can
save his friends from justice, and despoil his enemies contrary to
justice.
It is also provided that "he shall have power to organize military
commissions or tribunals:" but this power he is not commanded to
exercise. It is merely permissive, and is to be used only "when in his
judgment it may be necessary for the trial of offenders." Even if the
sentence of a commission were made a prerequisite to the punishment
of a party, it would be scarcely the slightest check upon the officer,
who has authority to organize it as he pleases, prescribe its mode of
proceeding, appoint its members from his own subordinates, and revise
all its decisions. Instead of mitigating the harshness of his single
rule, such a tribunal would be used much more probably to divide the
responsibility of making it more cruel and unjust.
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