<P> During the colonial era, martial law was proclaimed and applied in the territory of the Province of Quebec during the invasion of Canada by the army of the American Continental Congress in 1775--1776 . It was also applied twice in the territory of Lower Canada during the 1837--1838 insurrections . On December 5, following the events of November 1837, martial law was proclaimed in the district of Montréal by Governor Gosford, without the support of the Legislative Assembly in the Parliament of Lower Canada . It was imposed until April 27, 1838 . Martial law was proclaimed a second time on November 4, 1838, this time by acting Governor John Colborne, and was applied in the district of Montreal until August 24, 1839 . </P> <P> In Egypt, a State of Emergency has been in effect almost continuously since 1967 . Following the assassination of President Anwar el - Sadat in 1981, a state of emergency was declared . Egypt has been under state of emergency ever since; the Parliament has renewed the emergency laws every three years since they were imposed . The legislation was extended in 2003 and were due to expire at the end of May 2006; plans were in place to replace it with new anti-terrorism laws . But after the Dahab bombings in April of that year, state of emergency was renewed for another two years . In May 2008 there was a further extension to June 2010 . In May 2010, the state of emergency was further extended, albeit with a promise from the government to be applied only to' Terrorism and Drugs' suspects . </P> <P> A State of Emergency gives military courts the power to try civilians and allows the government to detain for renewable 45 - day periods and without court orders anyone deemed to be threatening state security . Public demonstrations are banned under the legislation . On 10 February 2011, the ex-president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, promised the deletion of the relevant constitutional article that gives legitimacy to State of Emergency in an attempt to please the mass number of protesters that demanded him to resign . On 11 February 2011, the president stepped down and the vice president Omar Suleiman de facto introduced the country to martial law when transferring all civilian powers from the presidential institution to the military institution . It meant that the presidential executive powers, the parliamentary legislative powers and the judicial powers all transferred directly into the military system which may delegate powers back and forth to any civilian institution within its territory . </P> <P> The military issued in its third announcement the "end of the State of Emergency as soon as order is restored in Egypt". Before martial law, the Egyptian parliament under the constitution had the civilian power to declare a State of Emergency . When in martial law, the military gained all powers of the state, including to dissolve the parliament and suspend the constitution as it did in its fifth announcement . Under martial law, the only legal framework within the Egyptian territory is the numbered announcements from the military . These announcements could for instance order any civilian laws to come back into force . The military announcements (communiques) are the de facto only current constitution and legal framework for the Egyptian territory . It means that all affairs of the state are bound by the Geneva Conventions . </P>

A rule or command that has the force of law