What would breach article 6(3) of Domestic Proceedings (Northern Ireland) Order 1980?

On these words an offence is committed where a person without reasonable excuse fails to give such notice. Not doing what the provision requires under the Domestic Proceedings (Northern Ireland) Order 1980, by the time it requires it to be done. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Duration of orders for financial provision for a party to a marriage

Q: Is article 6(3) of Domestic Proceedings (Northern Ireland) Order 1980 a strict liability offence?

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that a person meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

article 6(3) of Domestic Proceedings (Northern Ireland) Order 1980

In force
Strict liability
Summary only
Miscellaneous

The instrument creating this offence has not been revoked so far as the data shows.

What the provision says

3 A person whose remarriage causes an order made under Article 4(1)( a) to cease to have effect shall give notice of the remarriage to the court and any person who without reasonable excuse fails to give such notice shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to
a fine not exceeding £50.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 do something the instrument requires
Fault element: Strict liability
Burden of proof: An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

The prosecution must prove that the conduct happened. This is a strict liability offence as drafted: the provision uses no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence, so there is no need to show that a person meant to do it, knew about it, or was careless.

Intention, knowledge and carelessness are irrelevant to guilt. They may still matter a great deal to sentence.

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; qualified by reasonable excuse (an element; prosecution disproves once raised).

The defence, as drafted

ve notice of the remarriage to the court and any person who without reasonable excuse fails to give such notice shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £50.

What would breach article 6(3)?

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.

On these words an offence is committed where a person without reasonable excuse fails to give such notice.
Not doing what the provision requires under the Domestic Proceedings (Northern Ireland) Order 1980, by the time it requires it to be done.
Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

Mode of trial: Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine: £50
Maximum prison (summary): Not determined

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.

Reduction in sentence for a guilty plea: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 June 2017
The sliding scale of credit for pleading guilty, from one third at the first stage of proceedings downwards.
General guideline: overarching principles All courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 October 2019
The guideline a court uses when there is no offence-specific guideline, which is the position for the overwhelming majority of offences created by statutory instrument. It sets out how culpability and harm are assessed from first principles.
Totality: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales
How to sentence more than one offence at once so that the total is just and proportionate - frequently in point here, because regulatory prosecutions commonly charge several breaches of the same instrument.

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: 21 April 1980
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.

Civil Partnership Bill Hl Lords · 17 May 2004
"FINANCIAL RELIEF FOR CIVIL PARTNERS AND CHILDREN OF FAMILY (1) Schedule (Financial relief in the High Court or a county court etc.: Northern Ireland) makes provision for financial relief in connection with civil partnerships that corresponds to the provision made for financial relief in connection with marriages by Part 3 of the Matrimonial Causes (Northern Ireland) Order 1978 (S.I. 1978/1045 (N.I. 15)). (2) Any…
Application Of Certain Provisions Of The Domestic Proceedings (Northern Ireland) Order 1980 Lords · 17 May 2004
46 Articles 30 to 35 of the Domestic Proceedings (Northern Ireland) Order 1980 (S.I. 1980/563 (N.I. 5)) apply in relation to an order under this Schedule relating to a civil partnership as they apply in relation to an order under that Order relating to a marriage.
Enforcement Etc Of Orders For Payment Of Money Lords · 17 May 2004
43 Article 36 of the Domestic Proceedings (Northern Ireland) Order 1980 (S.I. 1980/563 (N.I. 5)) applies in relation to orders under this Schedule as it applies in relation to orders under that Order.
Application Of Certain Provisions Of The Domestic Proceedings (Northern Ireland) Order 1980 Lords · 17 May 2004

Other offences in the same instrument

Enforcement etc. of orders for payment of moneyarticle 36
Enforcement etc. of orders for payment of moneyarticle 36(3)
Where an order made under Article 4(1)( c) ceases to have effect by virtue of an event mentioned in…article 7(6)

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

This provision on legislation.gov.uk The authoritative text. Check it before relying on anything here.
Domestic Proceedings (Northern Ireland) Order 1980 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
MiscellaneousOther offences on the same subject
Offences created in 1980