October 12, 1983

The nation's highest military court today struck down the procedures used for sentencing members of the armed forces to death but said the President could remedy the constitutional defect without new legislation. The decision by the Court of Military Appeals granted what could prove to be only a temporary reprieve to Pfc. Wyatt L. Matthews of the Army, who brought the appeal, and the six other servicemen who are now under sentence of death, all imprisoned at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas. The three-judge court held that the military's procedures for sentencing service members to death for murder and rape, used since the capital punishment provisions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice were enacted in 1950, violated constitutional standards since mandated by the Supreme Court, in particular the requirement that ''aggravating factors'' justifying the death penalty be specified by the sentencing body.

The often-delayed plans to begin production of a 150-passenger version of the European Airbus jetliner received a boost yesterday when British Caledonian Airways announced it would buy seven of the planes for $225 million. Air France and Air Inter, a domestic French airline, had previously announced their intention to buy the plane, named the A320. But the decision to put the airliner into production awaits approval from the four nations whose companies make up the manufacturing consortium, known as Airbus Industrie: France, West Germany, Britain and Spain. The company has never specified how many orders it thought would be needed to convince all the Governments to begin production.

The new Government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir moved swiftly on the economic front today, devaluing the Israeli shekel by a total of 23 percent from its value Friday, raising prices of subsidized foods and offering a plan to protect investors in commercial bank stocks. The measures, to take effect Wednesday, were announced at dawn after an all-night Cabinet meeting that was convened hours after Mr. Shamir was sworn in. But the steps, taken in the face of panicky selling of Israeli currency, also thrust the Government into a new round of political and labor problems. Rush Depletes Supplies The Government halved food subsidies, pushing up the prices of bread and dairy products by 50 percent and frozen meat by 40 percent. Gasoline prices were to go up 23 percent.

''Either we will pay now or we will pay more later.

Texas Instruments Inc. said yesterday that contrary to expectations it will not introduce a new home computer this year. The announcement gave rise to conjecture that the company might be significantly scaling back its home computer plans or even putting in motion plans to bow out of the market, Deep price cuts and a flood of products have transformed the home computer business into a hazardous arena for many manufacturers.. Other analysts suggested that the company might be waiting for the International Business Machines Corporation to introduce its eagerly awaited personal computer, called the Peanut, so Texas Instruments could make its machine compatible with it. ''A decision has been made that for the balance of this year, which carries through the peak Christmas season, there will not be an introduction of a new home computer console,'' said Norman Neureiter, a company spokesman, in response to an inquiry. ''We've decided we will concentrate our efforts on the 99/4A this year.''