LEGAL PRINCIPLE: MILITARY LAW — Courts Martial — Composition of General Court Martial — Waiting Member Not a Sitting Member of the Panel
PRINCIPLE STATEMENT
A waiting member is a person who is to perform or stand by to take the place of a member of the panel who for one reason or the other is unable to sit and has to be substituted. He shall be likened to a spare tyre. If he is around he may not be noticed. He is not a member of the panel exercising judicial function.
RATIO DECIDENDI (SOURCE)
Per Pats-Acholonu, JSC, in Obisi v. Chief of Naval Staff (2004) NLC-1572002(SC) at pp. 5–6; Paras D–A.
"A waiting member to mean a person who is to perform or stand by to take the place or position of a member of the panel of the court who in stricto sensu for one reason or the other is unable to sit in the panel and has to be substituted by another person already appointed or nominated to be a member in case of any eventuality. He shall be likened to a spare tyre. If he is around he may not be noticed. He is not a member of the panel exercising judicial function."
EXPLANATION / SCOPE
A waiting member of a court martial is not a sitting member exercising judicial functions. He is merely a standby substitute like a spare tyre. The principle applies to military law and court martial composition. The presence or absence of a waiting member does not affect the validity of proceedings. The rule clarifies that waiting members are not part of the adjudicating panel. The court martial functions properly without the waiting member participating.
