Orders prohibiting import of animals, etc.

article 24(5) of The Diseases of Animals (Northern Ireland) Order 1981

• Revoked
• Strict liability
• Dogs, animals, hunting and wildlife

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

5 If an animal or other thing is imported in an aircraft in contravention of an order made under this Article, then (without prejudice to the liability of any other person under Article 52 (1) and (4) the person for the time being having possession and control of the aircraft, as owner, hirer or otherwise, shall be guilty of an offence against this Order.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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

contravening a requirement of the instrument

Fault element

Strict liability

Burden of proof

No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

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.

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

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

What would breach article 24(5)?

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. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Diseases of Animals (Northern Ireland) Order 1981, whatever the reason for doing it.
2. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial

Not determined

Maximum fine

Not determined

Maximum prison (summary)

Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

No penalty was determined from this instrument. It may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence. Absence of a figure here is not evidence that the offence carries no penalty.

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.

• Animal cruelty: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts in England and Wales · in force from 1 July 2017

  Covers cruelty to and neglect of animals, and the associated disqualification and deprivation orders.

• 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

Revoked

Revoked by

The Transport of Animals and Poultry (Cleansing and Disinfection) Order (Northern Ireland) 2007

Revoked on

28 May 2007

Made

31 July 1981

In force from

Not determined

Extent

N.I.

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

Other offences in the same instrument

• A person to whom a restriction notice is given commits an offence (whether or not the notice is the subject…article 32G(1)
• Any other person commits an offence if he uses any semen, egg or embryo which he knows, or has reasonable…article 32G(2)
• If any person has in his possession or administers to any animal a substance, in contravention of Article…article 35(1)
• Powers of entry: supplementary provisionsarticle 46C(11)
• Any person who without lawful authority or excuse, proof of which shall lie on him,— a contravenes any…article 52(1)
• (l) rep. by SR 2003/495 m where the Department has by order prohibited, absolutely or conditionally, the use…article 52(2)
• A person who— a fails to give his name and address when required to do so under Article 46C(4); or b gives a…article 52(8)
• Any person who knowingly or recklessly makes any false statement for the purpose of obtaining for himself or…article 53(1)
• Any person who obstructs or impedes any person duly authorised under Article 9 to make any inspection shall…article 53(2)
• Deliberate infectionarticle 5A(1)
• Deliberate infectionarticle 5A(2)

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”

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.
• The Diseases of Animals (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
• Dogs, animals, hunting and wildlifeOther offences on the same subject
• Offences created in 1981