Breach of contract involving injury to persons or property

article 124(1) of The Trade Union and Labour Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1995

• Status not determined
• Mixed — some elements strict, some not
• Summary only
• Miscellaneous

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 A person commits an offence who wilfully and maliciously breaks

a contract of service or hiring, knowing or having reasonable cause to believe that the probable consequences of his so doing, either alone or in combination with others, will be-

a to endanger human life or cause serious bodily injury, or

b to expose valuable property, whether real or personal, to destruction or serious injury.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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

breaching the provision

Fault element

Mixed — some elements strict, some not

Burden of proof

No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove the conduct, and - for those elements the provision qualifies (maliciously, wilfully) - the state of mind it names. The remaining elements carry no fault requirement, so they are strict.

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

Classifier’s reasoning: both a mens rea word and an objective standard appear in the offence itself.

What would breach article 124(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. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1995.

Penalty

Mode of trial

Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court

Maximum fine

£500

Standard scale

Level 2

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.

• 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

Status not determined

Made

26 July 1995

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 amends and largely restates the law in relation to tradeunions and industrial relations.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same instrument

• For paragraph (5) of that Article there shall be substituted- 5 If a person contravenes any duty, or…article 10(2)
• If an official or agent of a trade union or employers' association— a destroys, mutilates or falsifies, or…article 10(2)
• If such a person fraudulently— a parts with, alters or deletes anything in any such document; or b is privy…article 10(2)
• If a person in purported compliance with a duty, or requirement imposed, under Article 12A or 12B to provide…article 10(2)
• Intimidation or annoyance by violence or otherwisearticle 125(1)
• Where in pursuance of any such agreement as is mentioned in Article 9(1) of the Criminal Attempts and…article 126

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 “commits 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 Trade Union and Labour Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1995 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
• MiscellaneousOther offences on the same subject
• Offences created in 1995