UK Offence Report

Power to deprive offenders of property used, or intended for use, for purposes of crime

article 11(3) of The Criminal Justice (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

3 Where a person commits an offence to which this paragraph applies by— a driving, attempting to drive or being in charge of a vehicle, or b failing to comply with a requirement made under Article 146 of the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 (failure to provide specimen for analysis or laboratory test) in the course of an investigation into whether the offender had committed an offence while driving, attempting to drive or being in charge of a vehicle, or c failing, as the driver of a vehicle, to comply with Article 175(1) of that Order (duty to stop and give information or report accident), the vehicle shall be regarded for the purposes of paragraph (1)(a) (and paragraph (7)(b)) as used for the purpose of committing the offence (and for the purpose of committing any offence of aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring the commission of the 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
failing to comply with a notice or direction
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 11(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.

  1. Being served with a notice under the Criminal Justice (Northern Ireland) Order 1994 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
  2. Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
  3. Disagreeing with the notice and ignoring it, rather than using whatever appeal the instrument provides.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Set by another provision — the instrument states the penalty by reference to an Act or to another regulation
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

The instrument does not state a penalty itself. It sets one by reference to section 35 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861.

penalty is that of the referenced enactment; not stated in this instrument.

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.

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
2 November 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— a increases fines and certain other sums specified in statutory provisions relating to the powers of criminal courts; b sets out the terms of imprisonment which may be imposed by the Crown Court for default in payment of fines and increases the terms of imprisonment which may be imposed by magistrates' courts for default in payment of fines; c revises the procedures for the enforcement of fines imposed on companies; d further standardises fines specified in subordinate legislation made under statutory provisions relating to the powers of criminal courts; e enables harbour authorities to provide for increased fines in subordinate legislation; f revises the power of the Secretary of State to alter fines and other sums to take account of changes in the value of money; g makes fresh provision with respect to forfeiture and compensation orders; h makes further provision with respect to anonymity in cases of rape and similar cases; and i makes provision with respect to anonymity in cases of other sexual offences.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

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 0.64.

Basis
the provision says a person “commits an offence”
Confidence
0.64 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