Note 277 — Chapter XXVIII · THE NATIONAL DEFENCE

There is still another phase of military jurisdiction which must be distinguished from both military law and martial law. This is called military government. It may be explained as follows: When any territory is conquered and held by an invading army it must obviously be given some temporary form of government. The former government usually flees and something must be put in its place. Under such conditions the commander-in-chief of the occupying force sets up a temporary administration. In 1919, when a portion of the American Expeditionary Force advanced into German territory under the terms of the armistice, a military government with its headquarters at Coblenz was established for the area occupied by the American troops. A military government may even be set up in home territory during a civil war or insurrection. After the fall of the Confederacy military governments were maintained in the South until the state governments were reconstructed, hence we commonly speak of the “reconstruction” period. Military government is always a temporary arrangement, never intended to be permanent, although it may last for several years. It does not, like martial law, supplant the ordinary laws of the occupied territory, but merely means that the occupying army, through its commander-in-chief, takes over the administration.