UK Offence Report

Breach of official duty

regulation 58(1) of The Crofting Commission (Elections) (Scotland) Regulations 2011

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

1 If a person to whom this regulation applies is in breach of his or her official duty under these Regulations, without reasonable cause, that person commits an offence and he or she is liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level5 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 person
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 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.

What would breach regulation 58(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 the thing the provision prohibits under the Crofting Commission (Elections) (Scotland) Regulations 2011, 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
Either way — magistrates’ court or Crown Court
Maximum fine
£10,000
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Crofting Commission (Elections) (Scotland) Amendment Regulations 2016
Revoked on
16 December 2016
Made
21 December 2011
In force from
22 December 2011
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

What the instrument is for

(This note is not part of these Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations set out the arrangements under which elections to the Crofting Commission are to be conducted. Regulations 4 and 5 provide who may and may not vote at such an election. Regulations 6 and 7 provide for the appointment by the Scottish Ministers of a returning officer for each election and for the payment of any expenses. Regulation 8 and the Schedule divide the Commission electoral area into six constituencies, with each constituency returning one member. Regulations 9 and 10 set out provisions relating to qualification and disqualification of candidates for election. The timetable for conducting elections and provision regarding notice are detailed in regulations11 and 12. The procedures for nomination of candidates are detailed in regulations 13 to 17. Arrangements for the method of election, manner of voting (by post or by proxy), the form of the ballot papers and arrangements for absent electors are detailed in regulations 18 to 26. Part III sets out arrangements for the issue and receipt of ballot papers (regulations 27 to 37). Part IV sets out arrangements for the counting of ballot papers and the declaration of result (regulations 38 to 54). Part V sets out offences and penalties (regulations 55 to 62). Part VI includes miscellaneous provisions relating to candidates’ expenses and election returns (regulations 63 to 65).

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 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person “commits an offence”; the provision states liability on summary conviction
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