THIS VOLUME is intended to be a useful handbook for anyone interested in Military Law. We have tried to make it concise and practical. Military law, when broadly defined, encompasses so many fields that a multi-volumed dictionary could have been compiled. It is our opinion, however that a compact volume with short, clear definitions is more likely to answer the needs of the military lawyer. Thus the definitions selected were those the editors believed to be most useful.

These definitions were selected from a wide variety of sources. We have resisted the temptation to include definitions of our own. Our aim was to collect the important definitions currently used in military, legal, medical and allied fields. This dictionary was not intended to supplant the many fine dictionaries in these fields. Instead its purpose is to bring together all those definitions, and many of the abbreviations, most likely to be used by the military lawyer.

Some of our sources were the official dictionaries and publications of the Armed Services. Many definitions were found in leading legal treatises. Others came from various glossaries, dictionaries, articles, etc. Very often several sources would turn up the same or similar definitions, making our task of selection much easier.

As with most dictionaries there were far too many sources for individual acknowledgment. We have, therefore, included a list of references that indicate some of the works that were checked for terms. Works of this nature should be consulted for larger definitions and definitions of more obscure and less used words.

In the field of law, definitions are particularly important and require careful use. Entire books have been written about a single word or phrase such as "hearsay," "proximate cause," and "res ipsa loquitor." There are several important multi-volume dictionaries and one set of judicial definitions that runs to 60 volumes. THE MILITARY LAW DICTIONARY is designed to be a working tool that supplements and is in no way a substitute for those more ambitious works.

Like most dictionaries, ours was compiled on cards over a long period of time. This card file was kept, used, and tested in the Army Library and the Navy JAG Law Library. It has proven useful in these libraries and it is hoped that it will be equally useful in the filed and elsewhere.

RICHARD C. DAHL
JOHN F. WHELAN