Feres Doctrine (The Free Dictionary)

In 1950, the same year the military's Uniform Code of Military Justice was published, the U.S. Supreme Court decided in Feres v. United States, 340 U.S. 135, 71 S. Ct. 153, 95 L. Ed. 152, that the federal government could not be held liable under the statute known as the Federal Tort Claims Act (28 U.S.C.A. §§ 1291, 1346(b), (c), 1402(b), 2401(b), 2402, 2671-80) for injuries to members of the armed forces arising from activities incident to military service. While the Federal Tort Claims Act allows persons intentionally or negligently wronged by a government employee to sue the government for their injuries, the Supreme Court decided to bar suits involving injuries to members of the armed forces. This decision, the Feres doctrine, remains in force as the Supreme Court has rejected attempts to over-rule the decision. To date, Military Sexual Assault has been considered "incident to service" as defined in this doctrine.

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