What would breach article 25A(7) of The Dogs (Northern Ireland) Order 1983?

On these words an offence is committed where a person contravenes this Article. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Dogs (Northern Ireland) Order 1983, whatever the reason for doing it. Where the requirement is a positive duty, letting the time for performing it pass without performing it.

Dogs bred for fighting

Q: Is article 25A(7) of The Dogs (Northern Ireland) Order 1983 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 25A(7) of The Dogs (Northern Ireland) Order 1983

In force
Strict liability
Summary only
Dogs, animals, hunting and wildlife

The instrument creating this offence has not been revoked so far as the data shows.

What the provision says

7 Any person who contravenes this Article shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for
a term not exceeding
6 months or to
a fine not exceeding level
5 on the standard scale or to both, except that
a person who publishes an advertisement in contravention of paragraph (2)(b) or (c)—
a shall not on being convicted be liable to imprisonment if he shows that he published the advertisement to the order of someone else and did not himself devise it; and
b shall not be convicted if, in addition, he shows that he did not know and had no reasonable cause to suspect that it related to
a dog to which this Article applies.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 25A(7)?

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 Dogs (Northern Ireland) Order 1983, 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: Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine: £5,000
Standard scale: Level 5
Maximum prison (summary): 6 months

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.

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: In force
Made: 18 May 1983
In force from: Not determined
Extent: N.I.

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

Other offences in the same instrument

Display of registration certificatearticle 14
Penalty for keeping dog without a licencearticle 17(1)
Penalty for applying for or obtaining a licence or registration while disqualifiedarticle 18(1)
Penalty for obtaining dog before a licence is issuedarticle 19
Restriction on giving or selling dogsarticle 20(2)
Production of licencesarticle 21(2)
Penalty for a dog strayingarticle 22(1)
Control of dogs on certain roads and on landarticle 25(3)
Other specially dangerous dogsarticle 25B(3)
Notice of guard dogsarticle 26(2)
Attacks on livestock and certain other animalsarticle 28(1)
Attacks on livestock and certain other animalsarticle 28(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”; the provision states liability on summary conviction
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 Dogs (Northern Ireland) Order 1983 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
Dogs, animals, hunting and wildlifeOther offences on the same subject
Offences created in 1983