UK Offence Report

SCHEDULE 1

SCHEDULE 1 of Solicitors (Northern Ireland) Order 1976

The instrument creating this offence has not been revoked so far as the data shows.

What the provision says

12 Subject to the service of any notice under paragraph 10, and to any application that may be made under paragraph

11 the Society or any person in that behalf appointed by the Society may withdraw the money, or any part of the money, which is in any account in the name of the solicitor or his firm, or which is in the possession or control of any person on whom

a notice was duly served under paragraph 10, and any money in the office of the solicitor or his firm due to or held on behalf of his clients, and pay them into

a special account or special accounts in the name of the Society or such person appointed as aforesaid and may operate on, and otherwise deal with, such special account or accounts as the solicitor or his firm might have operated on, or otherwise dealt with, the said account; so however that

a bank or

a building society with whom such special account or accounts is or are kept shall be under no obligation to ascertain whether that account or those accounts is or are being so operated on or otherwise dealt with. 13

1 If any person fails to comply with the requirements of any notice given under paragraph 10—

a he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

4 on the standard scale; and b . . . the High Court may, on the application of the Society—

i order him to comply with the requirements of the notice within such time as may be specified in the order; or

ii appoint the Society to act as the attorney of the solicitor named in that paragraph.

Text as made, from legislation.gov.uk. © Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.

Who it binds, and what has to be proved

Binds
a person
Conduct
failing to comply with a notice or direction
Fault element
Mixed — some elements strict, some not
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove the conduct, and - for those elements the provision qualifies (knowingly, knows that) - the state of mind it names. The remaining elements carry no fault requirement, so they are strict.

The provision states no defence, so the prosecution bears the burden on every element of the offence.

Classifier’s reasoning: no fault word in the offence-creating words, but the surrounding provision uses knowingly, knows that - which element it governs was not determined.

What would breach SCHEDULE 1?

These are illustrations, not law. They are generated from the provision’s own words to show the shape of the offence. Whether any particular conduct is caught depends on the full text, on any amendment since, and on the facts.

  1. Being served with a notice under the Solicitors (Northern Ireland) Order 1976 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
  2. Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
  3. Disagreeing with the notice and ignoring it, rather than using whatever appeal the instrument provides.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£2,500
Standard scale
Level 4
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

in Northern Ireland a reference to a level is construed as referring to the standard scale as it currently stands (Fines and Penalties (NI) Order 1984 art.5(3)), not as it stood when the instrument was made.

Sentencing

Offences of this kind are usually sentenced under the guidelines below. This is a mapping by subject, not a finding about this provision, and the links go to a search of the Sentencing Council’s own site.

Prosecution figures

No published per-offence figure was found for this provision, and it could not be matched to a Ministry of Justice offence code. Offences created by statutory instrument very largely do not have one. Absence of a figure is not evidence that the offence is unused.

Status and lifecycle

Current status
In force
Made
12 April 1976
In force from
Not determined
Extent
N.I.

How this was established: read from the revised (currently in force) text.

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

Other offences in the same instrument

How this was identified as an offence

Everything above rests on the judgement that this provision creates a criminal offence, rather than mentioning one. That judgement is made by rule, from the words of the provision, and this is the rule that made it — with a confidence of 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”; the provision states liability on summary conviction; the provision states a penalty in older drafting
Confidence
0.92 of 1.00

A provision that states a penalty for an offence created elsewhere can read very like one that creates an offence, and the rules can mistake the one for the other. If the text quoted above sets a penalty for something made an offence by another provision, treat the classification on this page with that in mind, and read the instrument.

Check the source