UK Offence Report

13 A person who makes a statement which he knows to be false in any declaration or form in Part II which is…

paragraph 13 of SCHEDULE 2 of The Local Elections (Northern Ireland) Order 1985

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

13 A person who makes

a statement which he knows to be false in any declaration or form in Part II which is used for the purposes of this Part is guilty of an offence and shall be liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

5 on the standard scale (as provided by Article

5 of the Fines and Penalties (Northern Ireland) Order 1984).

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
making a false or misleading statement
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 paragraph 13 of SCHEDULE 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. On these words an offence is committed where a person makes a statement which he knows to be false in any declaration or form in Part II which is used for the purposes of this Part.
  2. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Local Elections (Northern Ireland) Order 1985.
  3. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  4. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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.

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
20 March 1985
In force from
27 March 1985
Extent
N.I.

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 replaces the Northern Ireland (Local Elections) Order 1977 (“the 1977 Order”). In common with that Order, this Order amends and supplements the provisions of the Electoral Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1962 (“the 1962 Act”) in its application to local government elections in Northern Ireland. The changes are as follows. Article 4 of this Order substitutes the new local elections rules which are set out in Schedule 1 to the Order for the rules in Schedule 5 to the Act of 1962 (as substituted by the 1977 Order). The new rules include provisions about the documents an elector must produce at a polling station in order to obtain a ballot paper which provisions correspond to sections 1 and 2 of the Elections (Northern Ireland) Act 1985. In common with the rules substituted by the 1977 Order, the new elections rules provide for the use of the single transferable vote system at local elections. However, in other respects the new rules are more closely based on the parliamentary elections rules in Schedule 1 to the Representation of the People Act 1983 (c.2) (“the 1983 Act”). Article 6 of, and Schedule 2 to, this Order make fresh provision for absent voting at local elections. Under paragraph 2 of Part I of Schedule 2 to the Order those electors who are also registered as parliamentary electors and are, in respect of that registration, entitled to absent voting facilities for an indefinite period at those elections, are entitled, on application, to those facilities for an indefinite period at local elections. Paragraph 4 enables electors to apply for absent voting facilities at a particular local election. The grounds of entitlement are similar to the grounds of entitlement for local electors in Great Britain under the 1983 Act. Part III of Schedule 2 to the Order provides for the issue and receipt of postal ballot papers. Article 8 extends from three to six months the time in which the Chief Electoral Officer as returning officer must submit his account of expenses to the relevant local authority and extends from twenty-one to forty-two days the time in which claims against the returning officer must be sent to him. Article 9 amends section 42(1) of the Act of 1962 to increase the limit on candidates' election expenses at local elections. That limit is calculated by reference to a fixed sum (which was £110 and will be £135) together with an additional sum (which was 2.3p and will be 2.8p) in respect of each entry in the register of electors for that election. The sums were last increased in February 1981. Article 10 increases the fee payable for the inspection of the returns as to election expenses at local elections from 10p to £1 and alters the fee payable for copies of those returns so that such copies are now available at 10p for each side of each page. The present fees have not been increased since the enactment of the Act of 1962 (which Act was itself a consolidation). Article 12 removes the requirement for a candidate at a local election to deposit £15 pending the outcome of the election. Article 13 disapplies section 110 of the Act of 1962 under which a person unfairly charged with personation was entitled to a sum not exceeding £10 in respect of damages and costs arising from his arrest. Article 14 extends certain voting offences in the Act of 1962. Article 15 makes provision with respect to the possession of certain documents which corresponds to section 3 of the Elections (Northern Ireland) Act 1985. The Article creates an offence in respect of the possession of the documents referred to in paragraph (2) of Article 15 on the day of the poll or the preceding day so as to commit personation. It confers powers on constables in connection with the offence; and creates a related offence of obstruction or concealment punishable by a maximum of six months imprisonment or a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale ( currently £2,000). Article 7 makes a minor drafting amendment and Article 11 sets out in a different form the provision included in the 1977 Order by which candidates are entitled to send their election addresses post free. Articles 16 to 18 make consequential amendments.

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 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