Editing Militia (section)

==== Political issues ====
[[File:Drawing for the Militia.png|thumb|''[[Drawing for the Militia]]'' by [[John Phillip]]]]
Until the [[Glorious Revolution]] in 1688 [[the Crown]] and Parliament were in strong disagreement. The [[English Civil War]] left a rather unusual military legacy. Both [[British Whig Party|Whigs]] and [[Tories (British political party)|Tories]] distrusted the creation of a large [[standing army]] not under civilian control. The former feared that it would be used as an instrument of royal tyranny. The latter had memories of the [[New Model Army]] and the anti-monarchical social and political revolution that it brought about. Both preferred a small standing army under civilian control for defensive deterrence and to prosecute foreign wars, a large navy as the first line of national defence, and a militia composed of their neighbours as additional defence and to preserve domestic order.{{citation needed|date=December 2012}}

Consequently, the [[English Bill of Rights]] (1689) declared, amongst other things: "that the raising or keeping a standing army within the kingdom in time of peace, unless it be with consent of Parliament, is against law..." and "that the subjects which are [[Protestant]]s may have arms for their defence suitable to their conditions and as allowed by law." This implies that they are fitted to serve in the militia, which was intended to serve as a counterweight to the standing army and preserve civil liberties against the use of the army by a tyrannical monarch or government.

The Crown still (in the British constitution) controls the use of the army. This ensures that officers and enlisted men swear an oath to a politically neutral head of state, and not to a politician. While the funding of the standing army subsists on annual financial votes by parliament, the [[Mutiny Act]], superseded by the Army Act, and now the [[Armed Forces Act]] is also renewed on an annual basis by Parliament.{{Citation needed|date=November 2007}} If it lapses, the legal basis for enforcing discipline disappears, and soldiers lose their legal indemnity for acts committed under orders.{{Citation needed|date=November 2007}}

With the creation of the [[British Empire]], militias were also raised in the colonies, where little support could be provided by regular forces. Overseas militias were first raised in [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown]], [[Virginia]], and in [[Bermuda]], where the [[Bermuda Militias 1612–1815|Bermuda Militia]] followed over the next two centuries a similar trajectory to that in Britain.