is sometimes used to express preparations of iron, or such as are impregnated therewith; as the martial regulus of antimony, &c.

MARTIAL Court. See COURT Martial.

MARTIAL Law, is the law of war that depends upon the jut but arbitrary will and pleasure of the king, or his lieutenant: for though the king doth not make any laws out by common consent in parliament, yet, in time of war, by reason of the necessity of it to guard against against dangers that often arise, he useth absolute power, so that his word is a law. Smith de Repub. Ang. lib. ii. c. 4.

But the martial law (according to Chief Justice Hale), is in reality not a law, but something indulged rather than allowed as a law; and it relates only to members of the army, being never intended to be executed on others, who ought to be ordered and governed by the laws to which they are subject, though it be a time of war. And the exercise of martial law, whereby any person might lose his life, or member, or liberty, may not be permitted in time of peace, when the king's courts are open for all persons to receive justice.