UK Offence Report

Exceptions and modifications to the Merchant Shipping Acts

article 11 of The Merchant Shipping (Ministry of Defence Yachts) Order 1992

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

11 Nothing contained in the Acts providing that an owner of a ship shall be guilty of an offence or shall be subject to any penalty, or providing for the forfeiture, detention, distress or poinding and sale of a ship or of anything on or belonging to a ship, shall have any application to the Secretary of State or a Ministry of Defence yacht or anything on or belonging to such a yacht.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
an owner
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 an owner 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 article 11?

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 Merchant Shipping (Ministry of Defence Yachts) Order 1992.

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
4 June 1992
In force from
12 June 1992
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 registration as British ships, for the purposes of the Merchant Shipping Acts 1894 to 1988 (the Acts), of a special class of Government ships, namely sailing yachts belonging to the Secretary of State for Defence and in the service of the Ministry of Defence. The registration of such yachts and the application of the Acts to them and other Ministry of Defence ships was previously provided for by the Merchant Shipping (Ministry of Defence Ships) Order 1989 (the 1989 Order). Paragraphs 1 to 3 of article 3 of this Order amend the 1989 Order to exclude from it provision for such yachts. Paragraphs 4 and 5 of article 3 make minor textual amendments to the 1989 Order. Articles 4 to 7 make regulations as to registry. Articles 8 to 13 make certain exceptions and modifications to the Acts as respect Ministry of Defence yachts. By virtue of article 14 a yacht registered under the 1989 Order is deemed to be registered under this Order.

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 is “guilty of 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