The Elston Act (1948)

In 1948, the United States Congress passed the statute commonly known as the Elston Act, which was a comprehensive revision of the Articles of War and which also served as the precursor to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. (Act of June 24, 1948, ch. 625, tit. II, § 203, 62 Stat. 604, 628.) The full text of H.Rep.No. 80-1034, which is the report that accompanied the Elston Act, is linked below. Other related documents also linked below include statements by the Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson and General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army, and various full committee and subcommittee hearings.

For more information on the UCMJ Legislative History project, of which these documents are only one part, and the project sponsor, the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center & School Library, visit the main UCMJ page.

Investigations of the National War Effort. . . (June 1946) Subcommittee and Full Committee Hearings . . . (April and July 1947) Amending the Articles of War (H. Rep. No. 80-1034) . . . (July 1947) Courts Martial Legislation (January 1948) Selective Service Act . . . (June 1948)