Places of public entertainment

article 52(2) of The Licensing (Northern Ireland) Order 1996

• Status not determined
• Strict liability
• Summary only
• Alcohol licensing, gambling, smoke-free and public health

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

2 If paragraph (1) is contravened the holder of the licence shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

3 on the standard scale.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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

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 holder 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 52(2)?

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 the thing the provision prohibits under the Licensing (Northern Ireland) Order 1996, whatever the reason for doing it.
2. 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

£1,000

Standard scale

Level 3

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.

• Health and safety offences, corporate manslaughter and food safety and hygiene offences: definitive guideline Magistrates' courts and the Crown Court in England and Wales · in force from 1 February 2016

  Covers breaches of duty under the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and the regulations made under it, and food safety and food hygiene offences. Sentencing turns on culpability and on the seriousness and likelihood of harm risked, not only on the harm that happened.

• 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

19 December 1996

In force from

20 February 1997

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 consolidates with amendments the law relating to licences for the sale by retail of intoxicating liquor. The principal amendments are— a the kinds of premises which may be licensed are extended to include guest houses, conference centres and higher education institutions; b licences to be valid for up to 5 years; c the sale of intoxicating liquor is permitted along with other goods; d the compulsory afternoon break in the permitted hours on a Sunday is abolished; e the permitted hours for off-licences are extended; f additional permitted hours may be allowed for licensed premises providing entertainment or food or both and on 20 occasions in any year for other licensed premises without any conditions; g children, in the company of an adult, are to be allowed in certain licensed premises which are certified in that respect; h the prohibition on a restaurant having a bar is abolished; and i licensed premises are permitted to open outside the permitted hours for any purpose which does not involve the sale of intoxicating liquor.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

Other offences in the same instrument

• SCHEDULE 5SCHEDULE 5
• Prohibition on sale of intoxicating liquor without a licencearticle 3(2)
• Prohibition on sale of intoxicating liquor without a licencearticle 3(3)
• Occasional licencesarticle 30(11)
• Occasional licencesarticle 30(8)
• Occasional licencesarticle 30(9)
• Consent required for certain alterations to premisesarticle 31(5)
• Consent required for certain alterations to premisesarticle 31(6)
• Prohibition of sale, etc., of intoxicating liquor outside permitted hoursarticle 41(2)
• Extension licences for sale, etc., of liquor in certain premises outside permitted hoursarticle 47(7)
• Extension licences for sale, etc., of liquor in certain premises outside permitted hoursarticle 47(8)
• Premises for which licences may be grantedarticle 5(6)

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; the provision states a penalty in older drafting

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 Licensing (Northern Ireland) Order 1996 Every offence this instrument creates, and its explanatory note
• Alcohol licensing, gambling, smoke-free and public healthOther offences on the same subject
• Offences created in 1996