UK Offence Report

False claim of status as creditor, etc.

rule 12.20(1) of The Insolvency Rules (Northern Ireland) 1991

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 Where the Rules provide for creditors, members of

a company or contributories in

a company's winding up

a right to inspect any documents, whether on the court's file or in the hands of

a responsible insolvency practitioner or other person, it is an offence for

a person, with the intention of obtaining

a sight of documents which he has not under the Rules any right to inspect, falsely to claim

a status which would entitle him to inspect them.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 company
Conduct
breaching the provision
Fault element
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (with the intention of).

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

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: with the intention of.

What would breach rule 12.20(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 Insolvency Rules (Northern Ireland) 1991.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

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
5 August 1991
In force from
1 October 1991
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 Rules.) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Rules set out the detailed procedure for the conduct of all company and individual insolvency proceedings under the Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 and otherwise give effect to that Order. The insolvency proceedings concerned are - company voluntary arrangements (Part 1 of the Rules), administration (Part 2), appointment of receiver or manager; administrative receivership (Part 3), companies winding up (Part 4), individual voluntary arrangements (Part 5), and bankruptcy (Part 6). Parts 7 to 12 of the Rules apply to both company and individual insolvency proceedings and are concerned with the following matters - court procedure and practice (Part 7), proxies and company representation (Part 8), examination of persons concerned in company and individual insolvency (Part 9), official receivers (Part 10), declaration and payment of dividend (winding up and bankruptcy) (Part 11 ), and miscellaneous and general (Part 12). The Arrangement of Rules at the beginning of these Rules lists the numbers and contents of all the Rules and Schedules. The Rules come into operation on the day appointed for the coming into operation of Article 359 of the Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 and generally apply to all insolvency proceedings commenced on or after that date. The Rules also apply to such proceedings commenced before that date to which provisions of the Insolvency (Northern Ireland) Order 1989 are applied by Schedule 8 to that Order to the extent necessary to give effect to those provisions. In addition, Rules 6.003-CP, 7.30 and 7.31 expressly provide for their application to insolvency proceedings, whenever commenced.

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 0.90.

Basis
the provision says “it is an offence”; the provision says an offence is committed “if” something happens
Confidence
0.90 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