UK Offence Report

19 Any person who, without lawful authority or excuse, proof of which shall lie on him— a defaces,…

article 19 of The Welfare of Horses at Markets (and Other Places of Sale) Order 1990

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

19 Any person who, without lawful authority or excuse, proof of which shall lie on him—

a defaces, obliterates or removes any mark applied to

a horse in pursuance of article 18; or

b contravenes any provision of this Order; or

c fails to comply with any such provision or with any conditions of an approval given under article 17(3); or

d knowingly causes or permits any such contravention or non-compliance, commits an offence against the Act.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
Requires proof of a state of mind
Burden of proof
An element of the offence, for the prosecution to prove

The prosecution must prove both that the conduct happened and that it was done with the state of mind the provision names (knowingly).

“Without reasonable excuse” here is an element of the offence rather than a defence, so its absence is for the prosecution to prove (R v Charles [2009] EWCA Crim 1570).

Classifier’s reasoning: mens rea word in the offence-creating words: knowingly; qualified by lawful excuse (an element).

The defence, as drafted

19 Any person who, without lawful authority or excuse, proof of which shall lie on him— a defaces, obliterates or removes any mark applied to a horse in pursuance of article 18; or b contravenes any provision of this Order; or c fails to comply with any such provision or with any conditions of an approval given

What would breach article 19?

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 Welfare of Horses at Markets (and Other Places of Sale) Order 1990, 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
Not determined
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

no penalty is stated in this instrument; it may be in the enabling Act, or in a general penalties provision this pass did not connect to the offence.

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
27 December 1990
In force from
1 March 1991
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 Order) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

This Order makes provision for the welfare of horses in markets. In a market it is an offence to permit an unfit horse to be exposed for sale (article 5), to cause or permit any injury or unnecessary suffering to a horse (article 6), to bring or cause to be brought there a foal unless it is at the foot of the dam or to expose it for sale separately (article 7), to handle horses in a particular way (article 8), to use excessive force to control any horse (the use of sticks, crops, whips, goads or certain other instruments is also prohibited) (article 9), knowingly to obstruct a horse or wantonly annoy it (article 10) or to keep there any horse which by reason of being clipped is insufficiently protected (article 14). The market operator must ensure that horses are properly penned (article 11) and that there is accommodation for unfit horses (article 16). It is the duty of the market operator or the person in charge of a horse to properly separate it from other animals and certain descriptions of horse (article 11) and to ensure that the horse is adequately provided with lighting and bedding. Duties are placed on the owner (or his duly authorised agent) or the person in charge of a horse to ensure that it is adequately fed and watered (article 12). It is the duty of the market authority to ensure that passageways and sale rings are constructed and maintained in a certain manner and that ramps for loading and unloading horses and covered accommodation are of a certain type and to provide certain facilities (article 15) including the supply of wholesome water and drinking devices. The Order also makes provision for the detention and treatment of unfit horses (article 17), for an inspector to mark, or cause to be marked, an animal for identification purposes (article 18) and for offences (article 19).

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 0.92.

Basis
the provision says a person “commits an offence”
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