UK Offence Report

Sale of animals as pets in street or public place

article 12(1) of The Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Northern Ireland) Order 1994

This offence was read from the text as made, and no revised version was available, so a later revocation could not be ruled out. Check the current text at legislation.gov.uk.

What the provision says

1 In section

10 of the 1972 Act (offences and penalties), after subsection (1) there shall be inserted the following subsection— 1A Any person who carries on

a business of selling animals as pets in

a street or public place, or from

a vehicle, stall or barrow, shall be guilty of an offence. .

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
selling or supplying something the instrument restricts
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 12(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. On these words an offence is committed where a person carries on a business of selling animals as pets in a street or public place, or from a vehicle, stall or barrow.
  2. Selling the goods under the Agriculture (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Northern Ireland) Order 1994 where the instrument prohibits the sale outright.
  3. Supplying without carrying out a check the instrument requires first, even where the sale would otherwise be lawful.
  4. Offering for sale counts as well as selling: displaying stock is enough where the provision reaches an offer.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£2,500
Standard scale
Level 4
Maximum prison (summary)
3 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.

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
Status not determined
Made
19 July 1994
In force from
Not determined
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: read from the text as made; no revised version available, so later revocation could not be ruled out.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of the Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order contains miscellaneous provisions relating to matters for which the Department of Agriculture (“the Department”) is responsible. Article 3 imposes a general duty on the Department to balance economic and conservation interests in the discharge of its functions in relation to any land and Article 4 empowers the Department to make grants for the purpose of encouraging rural development. Article 5 makes provision for additional suckler cow premiums for persons entitled to Community suckler cow premiums. Articles 6 and 7 replace the contribution payable on the sale of pigs to the Pigs Marketing Board by extending the levy on slaughtered or exported pigs and Article 8 renames the Livestock Marketing Commission. Article 9 repeals a power to make loans for fish farming. Articles 10 to 15 make amendments to the Welfare of Animals Act (Northern Ireland) 1972, including extending the powers to make regulations for the welfare of livestock. Article 16 enables the Department to impose charges for the use of locks and effluent disposal facilities on or near Upper and Lower Lough Erne and the River Erne and the tributaries of the Loughs. Articles 17 and 18 amend the Artificial Reproduction of Animals (Northern Ireland) Order 1975 to provide for fees for licences and for controls on advertising and Articles 19 to 23 make amendments to the Diseases of Animals (Northern Ireland) Order 1981, including provisions relating to compensation for slaughter and to examinations by inspectors.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

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”
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