842 ESTABLISHMENT OF MILITARY JUSTICE .

the bankruptcy act . The word " revise," as used in the bankruptcy statute ,
has always been held to signify power to reexamine all matters of law importe d
by or into the proceedings of the case, and a very liberal view has been take n
of what constitutes the record and proceedings of such matters . (See the many
cases cited in Federal Reporter Digest, " Bankruptcy, " vol. 5, from secs . 349 t o
448) . The revisory power there conferred is something broader than that in-
voked by writ of error, though, of course, not so broad as to justify a reexami-
nation of mere controversies or questions of fact. Doubtless, in any view o f
the case, the question whether the evidence sustains the verdictthat is ,
whether there is any substantial evidence at all upon which the verdict ma y
restis a question of law which may be reviewed under this power, and suc h
at least must be the power of this office .
6. The history of the legislation, the early execution given it, its histori c
place in the body of the law of which it is a part, all clearly show that this mus t
be the meaning assigned to the word " revise " in the present instance . It is no t
necessary now to say whether such revisory power existed in the judge advo-
cate in the early days of our Army, though, especially in view of the English
military law, this seems to have been so ; nor to advert to the fact that after
the War of 1812, and also after the Mexican War, the duty of the Corps of
Judge Advocates seems to have been primarily that of military prosecutors .
Nor is it necessary, except to indicate the proper setting, to say that militar y
prosecutiton had ceased to be the primary function of the Corps of Judge Ad-
vocates at the beginning of the Civil War, if not before . Nor is it more tha n
suggestive that the Judge Advocate General of the Army has always preside d
over both the Corps of Judge Advocates and the Bureau of Military Justice ,
and that this corps and this bureau were consolidated by the act of 1884 (23
Stats., 113) into what is now the Judge Advocate General's Department. It is
important to note that Congress established the Bureau of Military Justice i n
the light of the necessities of the Civil War and expressly invested its head ,
the Judge Advocate General of the Army, with this revisory power ; and it i s
important to note that Congress redeclared this power in 1864 (13 Stats ., 145 )
and in 1866 (14 Stats ., 334), and again in section 1199, Revised Statutes, o f
which the former acts were the antecedents . Now, taking up these antecedents,
in the act of July 17, 1862 (12 Stats ., 598), which was an act " calling forth th e
militia to execute the laws of the Union, to suppress insurrection," etc ., it wa s
provided
` That the President shall appoint, by and with the advice and consent of th e
Senate, a Judge Advocate General, with the rank, pay, and emoluments of a
colonel of cavalry, to whose office shall be returned, for revision, all record s
and proceedings of all courts-martial and military commissions, and where a
record shall be kept of all proceedings had thereupon . "
This provision speaks very plainly. It not only directs the Judge Advocat e
General to revise the records and proceedings of courts-martial, but it furthe r
directs that officer to keep a record of " all proceedings had thereupon " ; that
is, upon the revision . It is clear that this intended something more than a
perfuctory scrutiny of such records, and that it in fact vested this office wit h
power to make any correction of errors of law found to be necessary in th e
administration of justice . The records of this office indicate that Judge Holt ,
the Judge Advocate General of the Army during the Civil War period, di d
revise proceedings in the sense here indicated .
The next legislative expression is found in the act of June 20, 1864 (1 3
Stat., 145), of which sections 5 and 6 . are as follows :
" Sec .- 5. There shall be attached . to and made a part of the War Depart-
ment, during the continuance of the present Rebellion, a bureau to be known a s
the Bureau of Military Justice, to which shall be returned for revision th e
records and proceedings of all the courts-martial, courts of inquiry, and military
commissions of the Armies of the United States, and in which a record shal l
be kept of all proceedings had thereupon . -
" See . 6. That the President shall appoint, by and with the advice and conh-
sent of the Senate, as the head of said bureau, a Judge Advocate General wit
the rank, pay . and allowances of a brigadier generl, and an Assistnt Judg e.
Advocate General with the rank, pay, and allowances of a colonel of cavalry
And the said Judge Advocate General and his assistant shall receive, revise ,
and have recorded all proceedings of courts-martial, courts of inquiry, an d
military commissions of the Armies of the United States, and perform suc h
other duties as have heretofore been performed by the Judge Advocate Genera l
of the Armies of the United States ."