Default of debtor

Q: Is article 86(4) of Judgments Enforcement (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 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 86(4) of Judgments Enforcement (Northern Ireland) Order 1981

Revoked
Strict liability
Either way
Miscellaneous

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

4 A person who contravenes this Article shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable—
a on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for
a term not exceeding
2 years or to
a fine, or to both, or
b on summary conviction, to imprisionment for
a term not exceeding
6 months or to
a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or to both.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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

What would breach article 86(4)?

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 contravenes this Article.
Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Judgments Enforcement (Northern Ireland) Order 1981, whatever the reason for doing it.
Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Penalty

Mode of trial: Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine: £5,000
Standard scale: Level 5
Maximum prison (summary): Not determined
Maximum prison (on indictment): 2 years

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.

Imposition of community and custodial sentences: definitive guideline All courts in England and Wales
When a community order or custody is justified at all, and the presumption against short custodial sentences.
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 Company Directors Disqualification (Northern Ireland) Order 2002
Made: 18 February 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.

What Parliament said

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

Judgments Enforcement (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 Lords · 20 January 1981
Fines And Penalties (Northern Ireland) Commons · 15 May 1984 · Mr. William Ross (Londonderry, East)
I welcome the order, as I believe that this upgrading in the level of fines is long overdue. I shall listen with great interest to the Minister's reply to the point made by my right hon. Friend the Member for Down, South (Mr. Powell) as to whether an increase in real income is taken into account in deciding by how much the various fines should be increased. I have examined the order with some interest, because…
Companies (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 Lords · 31 October 1989
The final broad area of difference between the legislation before the House and that which already exists in Great Britain relates to the existence of a separate scheme for the enforcement of judgments in Northern Ireland. That has required the omission of certain provisions of the 1986 Act and substantial amendments to the Judgments Enforcement (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 which are detailed in Schedule 9 of the…
Charging Orders: Supplementary Provisions Commons · 6 March 1991
(4) In this paragraph and paragraph 6 above— "building society" has the same meaning as in the Building Societies Act 1986; "dividend" includes any distribution in respect of any unit of a unit trust; "government funds or stocks" has the same meaning as in the Judgments Enforcement (Northern Ireland) Order 1981; "stock" includes shares, debentures and any securities of the body concerned, whether or not…

Other offences in the same instrument

Obstruction and personation of enforcement officersarticle 118
False applications: criminal and civil liabilityarticle 119(1)
False answersarticle 120
Rescue of or interference with goods in custody of Officearticle 121
Subject to paragraphs (4) and (5), a person commits an offence if— a being required by Article 74(1), 76(3),…article 122(1)
Where a person commits an offence under paragraph (1)— a he shall in any case on summary conviction be…article 122(2)
Misrepresentation by debt collectorsarticle 123(1)

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.
Judgments Enforcement (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
MiscellaneousOther offences on the same subject
Offences created in 1981