UK Offence Report

Contravention of Public Angling Estate Byelaws (Northern Ireland) 2005

the instrument as a whole of Public Angling Estate Byelaws (Northern Ireland) 2005

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

Contravening this instrument is an offence under section 176 of the Fisheries Act (Northern Ireland) 1966. The instrument itself contains no offence-creating words.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
Strict liability
Burden of proof
Not determined

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.

Classifier’s reasoning: contravention offences of this kind are strict as to the breach; the fault position is governed by the parent Act and was not read from it.

What would breach the instrument as a whole?

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 Public Angling Estate Byelaws (Northern Ireland) 2005.

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 176 of the Fisheries Act (Northern Ireland) 1966.

the penalty is in the parent Act, not 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
16 May 2005
In force from
4 July 2005
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 Byelaws) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Byelaws revoke and replace with amendments the Angling (Department of Agriculture Waters) Byelaws (Northern Ireland) 1989. The Byelaws provide for angling controls and restrictions on waters within the public angling estate of the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure. The principal changes are as follows – Leathemstown Reservoir, Loughbrickland, Lough Melvin and the River Erne have been deleted from the list of waters to which the Byelaws apply. The Broadwater, Ballymoney River, Carnagh Forest Lakes, the remainder of the Carey River, the River Lagan, the Lower Bann navigation canals, the Upper Bann River, the Quoile/Annacloy/Ballynahinch River, the Colebrooke River, Cypress Pond, Killyfole Lough, Lough Scolban, Lough Creeve, Enagh Lough, Lough Macronan, and White Lough have been added to that list (Byelaw 2 and Schedule). All carp caught must be immediately returned to the water (Byelaw 5). The list, and description, of waters that are excepted from the prohibition on the use of ground bait or maggots while angling is amended (Byelaw 7). The list of waters that are excepted from the prohibition on the use of boats for the purpose of angling is amended (Byelaw 8). The maximum number of rods and lines or hand lines that two persons can use whilst trolling from a boat in Upper and Lower Lough Erne has been increased from three to four (Byelaw 12). The permitted methods of angling, as specified in the second column of the Schedule, have been amended in respect of the River Blackwater, River Bush, Dungonnell Reservoir, Glenshesk River, Lough Mourne, Lower South Woodburn Reservoir, Middle South Woodburn Reservoir, Clay Lake Reservoir, and the North and South Craigavon City Park Lakes, Lough Money and White Lough. The maximum numbers of fish that may be retained, as specified in the third column of the Schedule, have been amended in respect of Dungonnell Reservoir, Upper South Woodburn Reservoir, South Craigavon City Park Lake, Lough Money, and the Shimna River.

Read the full note and every offence in this 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 0.52.

Basis
the penalty comes from the enabling Act rather than from this instrument
Confidence
0.52 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