UK Offence Report

Horses living under wild or semi-wild conditions

regulation 19(7) of The Horse Identification (Scotland) Regulations 2009 (revoked)

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

7 Paragraph (6) does not apply in the case of

a horse taken to

a slaughterhouse for slaughter for human consumption but it is an offence to slaughter such

a horse more than

2 days after the date on the identifying sticker.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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; other provisions of the same instrument use a mens rea word while this one does not (the Cundy v Le Cocq contrast).

What would breach regulation 19(7)?

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. On these words it is an offence to slaughter such a horse more than 2 days after the date on the identifying sticker.
  2. Doing what the provision prohibits, or failing to do what it requires under the Horse Identification (Scotland) Regulations 2009.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£10,000
Maximum prison (summary)
3 months
Maximum prison (on indictment)
2 years

expressed as the statutory maximum (the prescribed sum): the same words mean £5,000 in England and Wales and £10,000 in Scotland.

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
3 June 2009
In force from
1 July 2009
Extent
S

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 Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations make provision in Scotland for the enforcement of Commission Regulation (EC) No. 504/2008. These Regulations revoke and replace the Horse Passports (Scotland) Regulations 2005. They also revoke the Horse Passports (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2007. They provide for identification of horses by means of an identification document which is to be linked to an animal by an electronic microchip. The microchip contains a unique life number which will be recorded on the identification document and within a National Equine Database. Part 1 of the Regulations extends the rules on equine identification to include zebra and other exotic Equidae not previously covered. Part 2 of the Regulations creates offences for breach of provisions of the Commission Regulation, and provides for the administration of veterinary medicinal products for horses intended for human consumption. Part 3 provides that the Regulations are enforced by the local authority, except in certain specified circumstances, and confers powers on inspectors. Breach of the Regulations is an offence punishable on summary conviction by a fine up to the statutory maximum or three months imprisonment, or both. On indictment the penalty is an unlimited fine or two years imprisonment, or both (regulation 23). A Regulatory Impact Assessment has been prepared and placed in the Scottish Parliament Reference Centre. Copies can be obtained from the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department, Pentland House, 47 Robb’s Loan, Edinburgh, EH14 1TY.

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