Thread: Martial Law

My questions:

1. What kind of circumstances have to exist for martial law?
2. Does martial law automatically mean that there will be curfew laws, "shoot on sight" laws, and the like?
3. What kind of restrictions would your every day blue collar worker face during martial law?
4. At what point would a situation get so bad that the government abandons martial law?
5. Would there be any quarantines on anything if martial law was put into place?

Any other credible information on the topic would be most helpful. Questions will probably follow based on the information given.

Starting from the first question here. I think you are asking about the generals taking over, like Pakistan's Musharraf.

The most basic curcumstance that must exist is a very pissed off general. There could have been a budget cut or a demotion, refusal of demand. the other thing is that the general population must be under pressure, martial law is declared when the people are under pressuewr and belive that the martrila lw will solve some if not most of the problems.

At least during the beginning a Curfew law is imposed. Shoot on sight laws are not usually imposed because it could turn the general populace against the General very quickly.

The first thing that he could face is problems while travelling to work. There could be requests from soldiers or even the officers which he would have to do even if he is does not want to it. This could include ignoring some laws or giving special treatment. He could also be forced to go throufgh screening processes and the like.

Not possible, during martial law the military is in COMPLETE control. In effet there is no government, the army can do what it wants and because martial law provides complete control to the military the situation cannmot get any worse in fact it will only get better althougfh at the expense of the comfortability and privacy of the lives of people.

Not that I know of but it is possible that political parties will be disbanded.

hope this helps .

Originally Posted by Quoth

What kind of circumstances have to exist for martial law?

None. It is upon the jurisdiction of the chief executive. If he wants to declare martial law, he can give his reasons for declaring such (extreme climate conditions, war, economic meltdown, disasters, etc.). Now please don't be mislead by this. The chief executive does not have the sole go-signal in declaring such a state. This will still be discussed in congress, and pass it into law, much like a nation declaring war against another nation.

Originally Posted by Quoth

Does martial law automatically mean that there will be curfew laws, "shoot on sight" laws, and the like?

No. Martial law simply means that - Military rule is imposed. As we all know from PolSci 101, The president is also the Commander-in-chief, so when Martial law is enacted, he will be the one to release these laws as he sees fit. So if he sees a need for a curfew, then he implements so, and the military carries the law out. As for the "shoot on sight" laws, never heard of them being legal. This is just an abuse of power. Arresting without a warrant is legal though, since the writ of habeas corpus is suspended.

Originally Posted by Quoth

What kind of restrictions would your every day blue collar worker face during martial law?

Apart from the curfew that will be imposed? None. I mean, look at the history of Egypt during the first years of Mubarak. It was under "Emergency Rule" (read: Martial law) yet its economy was booming at that time, and workers were still working and everything was sort of normal.

Originally Posted by Quoth

At what point would a situation get so bad that the government abandons martial law?

Hmm. The goal of martial law is to actually bring good to a bad situation. Let me answer it this way: There is no limit on the duration of martial law enactment. The chief executive can have it run for 20 minutes or 20 years. It's in his jurisdiction to lift the law if he sees that the situation that called for the martial law has already dissipated.

Originally Posted by Quoth

Would there be any quarantines on anything if martial law was put into place?

None.


Hope this helps!

The information provided is very useful. As I said before, more questions follow, but let me lay out a scenario that I'm writing.

Essentially, a city of approximately half a million people (with a metro area of an additional quarter million) has a poisoned water reservoir. None of the unbottled drinking water is safe. Additionally, a bacterial agent has spread to a portion of the population so that riots, looting, and violent rampages are common in the more crowded areas of the city.

Once martial law moves in, I would assume that soldiers would contain the threat using lethal force if necessary. The looters and rioters would be arrested and/or shot depending on the circumstances. The hospitals seem to be a source of the bacterial agent, which is why I asked about quarantines.

In order to move my story forward, I need a scenario that is so horrid that the government decides martial law isn't working.

Martial law is the last resort so the scenario cannot get any worse, -_-

essentially the government only decides that there is martial law if no other situation is working......

^ Seconding what Custard said.

Although, there's one other level the nation can go to beyond martial law. This is called a "De facto" government. Under this rule, the government loses control of its substituents such that the people themselves rebel and seek to lead the nation on their own, since they see that the martial law, despite being in effect, still does not give any sort of solution. There are many ways this scenario could play out. One is a military coup d'etat. Another could be a rebellion of the people.

We see a lot of De-facto governments occur from time to time, such as the ouster of Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines during 1986, the eventual stepping down of power by Hosni Mubarak in Egypt just a month ago, the 1979 Islamic revolution of Ayatollah Khomeini in Iran to kick out Shah Pahlavi and the rebellion of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya in 1971.