Editing Starfleet (section)

===Starfleet Judge Advocate General===
{{main|Law in Star Trek}}
The '''Starfleet Judge Advocate General''' (or ''JAG'') is the branch charged with overseeing legal matters within Starfleet.<ref name="Star Trek Encyclopedia">{{cite book|last1=Okuda|first1=Michael|last2=Okuda|first2=Denise|title=[[The Star Trek Encyclopedia|The Star Trek Encyclopedia : A Reference Guide to the Future]]|date=1999|publisher=Pocket Books|location=New York|isbn=0-671-03475-8|edition=Updated and expanded}}</ref> Several episodes revolve around or involve JAG officers and procedures:<ref name="Star Trek Encyclopedia"/>
* [[Captain (Star Trek)|Captain]] [[James T. Kirk]] is the defendant in the [[Star Trek: The Original Series|''TOS'']] episode "[[Court Martial (Star Trek)|Court Martial]]".<ref name="Star Trek Encyclopedia"/>
* [[Data (Star Trek)|Data]] participates in a JAG hearing to determine whether he is Starfleet property in the [[Star Trek: The Next Generation|''TNG'']] episode "[[The Measure of a Man (Star Trek: The Next Generation)|The Measure of a Man]]".<ref name="Star Trek Encyclopedia"/>
* A hearing is held to decide whether to extradite [[Worf]] to the [[Klingon]]s in the ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' episode "[[Rules of Engagement (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)|Rules of Engagement]]".<ref name="Star Trek Encyclopedia"/>
* In "[[Doctor Bashir, I Presume?]]", a JAG [[Star Trek uniforms|rear admiral]] arranges for Richard Bashir's incarceration—and his son [[Julian Bashir]]'s retention of a Starfleet commission—as punishment for the illegal [[genetic engineering|genetic enhancements]] given to Julian as a child.<ref name="Star Trek Encyclopedia"/>

Dialog in "Court Martial" reveals that a court-martial may be convened in the absence of any JAG officers by three presiding command-level officers.<ref name="TOS Court Martial">{{cite episode|title=The Menagerie|episode-link=The Menagerie (Star Trek: The Original Series)| series=[[Star Trek: The Original Series|Star Trek]]}}</ref> Additionally, dialog in "The Measure of a Man" indicates that the loss of a starship automatically leads to a JAG court-martial (this is similar to real-world military procedures, in which a court-martial is convened to enter the loss of the ship into the official record). Courts-martial were held following the loss of the USS ''Pegasus'' and USS ''Stargazer''.<ref name="Star Trek Encyclopedia"/> In the ''Voyager'' episode "[[Parallax (Star Trek: Voyager)|Parallax]]", Tuvok states that [[Kathryn Janeway|the Captain]] has the authority to conduct a court-martial on the ship, given the circumstance of the ship being isolated from the Federation.