UK Offence Report

For the purposes of this paragraph a person who has applied for a ballot paper for the purpose of voting in…

paragraph 50 of SCHEDULE 1 of The Local Elections (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Order 1987

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

6 For the purposes of this paragraph

a person who has applied for

a ballot paper for the purpose of voting in person, or who has marked, whether validly or not, and returned

a ballot paper issued for the purpose of voting by post, shall be deemed to have voted, but for the purpose of determining whether an application for

a ballot paper constitutes an offence under sub-paragraph (4),

a previous application made in circumstances which entitle the applicant only to mark

a tendered ballot paper shall, if he does not exercise that right, be disregarded.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
Mixed — some elements strict, some not
Burden of proof
No statutory defence — prosecution proves everything

The prosecution must prove the conduct, and - for those elements the provision qualifies (knowing that, knowingly) - the state of mind it names. The remaining elements carry no fault requirement, so they are strict.

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

Classifier’s reasoning: no fault word in the offence-creating words, but the surrounding provision uses knowingly, knowing that - which element it governs was not determined.

What would breach paragraph 50 of SCHEDULE 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 Local Elections (Northern Ireland) (Amendment) Order 1987.

Penalty

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

no penalty is stated here: this instrument amends another one, and the penalty for the offence is in the instrument being amended.

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
10 February 1987
In force from
Not determined
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 amends the Electoral Law Act (Northern Ireland) 1962 (“the 1962 Act”) and the Local Elections (Northern Ireland) Order 1985 (“the 1985 Order”) to make changes to the law in respect of local elections in Northern Ireland equivalent to those changes in respect of parliamentary elections which were made by the Representation of the People Act 1985 (c. 50) (“the 1985 Act”). Schedule 1 to this Order includes amendments to the 1962 Act equivalent to those made to the Representation of the People Act 1983 (c. 2) (“the 1983 Act”) by sections 14 and 19 of, and Schedules 2, 3, 4 and 5 to, the 1985 Act. In addition, paragraph 41 of that Schedule amends the list of documents, one of which must be produced at a polling station before a ballot paper can be delivered to a voter; the amendment corresponds to that made for parliamentary elections by Regulation 13 of the Representation of the People (Northern Ireland) Regulations 1986 (S.I. 1986/1091) (“the 1986 Regulations”). Paragraph 50 of that Schedule (together with paragraphs 46 to 49) makes provision for voting offences at local elections in Northern Ireland equivalent to that made for such offences at parliamentary elections there by section 61 of the 1983 Act (as amended by the Elections (Northern Ireland) Act 1985 (c. 2) and the 1985 Act). Paragraph 54 of that Schedule disapplies an offence which is already repealed as respects parliamentary elections. Schedule 2 to this Order replaces the provisions about entitlement to vote by post or by proxy in Part I of Schedule 2 to the 1985 Order. The new provisions correspond to the provisions in respect of parliamentary elections made by sections 6 to 9 of the 1985 Act and Part IV of the 1986 Regulations. The absent voting forms prescribed by Part II of Schedule 2 to the 1985 Order are revoked by Article 5(6) of this Order because the new provisions set out the contents of applications to vote by post or by proxy or by post as proxy but do not prescribe forms as such. Schedule 3 to this Order makes consequential amendments to Part III of Schedule 2 to the 1985 Order, which concerns the procedure on the issue and receipt of postal ballot papers. It also replaces the requirement to make a declaration of secrecy before attending such proceedings with a duty on the returning officer to notify persons so attending of the requirement of secrecy.

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 0.75.

Basis
the provision says the conduct “constitutes an offence”
Confidence
0.75 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