UK Offence Report

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

article 29 of The Sheep Scab 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

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

a defaces, obliterates or removes any mark applied to any sheep under article 19; or

b knowingly or recklessly makes

a declaration in Form E, J or L which is false in

a material particular; or

c fails to comply with article 3(1), 4, 6(1), 7(3) or (7), 8, 9(2) or (3), 11(1), 13(1) or (2), 14(1), 15, 16(2) or (3), 18, 20, 21,

22 or 23; or

d fails to comply with any notice issued under article 5(4) or any condition of any licence issued under this Order; or

e causes or permits any such 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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
making a false or misleading statement
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, knowingly or recklessly, recklessly).

“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, recklessly, knowingly or recklessly; qualified by lawful excuse (an element).

The defence, as drafted

29 Any person who, without lawful authority or excuse, proof of which shall lie on him– a defaces, obliterates or removes any mark applied to any sheep under article 19; or b knowingly or recklessly makes a declaration in Form E, J or L which is false in a material particular; or c fails to comply with article 3

What would breach article 29?

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. Entering a figure on a form or return that is known to be wrong under the Sheep Scab Order 1992.
  2. Leaving out something the form asks for, where the omission is what makes the answer misleading.
  3. Producing a document to an official that has been altered since it was issued.

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
6 January 1992
In force from
18 January 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 replaces the Sheep Scab Order 1986 and the Sheep Scab (Amendment) Order 1987. The Order retains sheep scab as a notifiable disease. Where infection is confirmed movement restrictions may be imposed and the owner required to dip his sheep and complete a declaration to that effect. The main provisions of the Order are as follows– 1 Part II contains provisions relating to cases of sheep scab and suspected sheep scab, and includes provisions concerning– a the compulsory notification of sheep scab or suspected sheep scab (Article 3) and preliminary movement restrictions (Article 4); b the declaration as an infected place of places where sheep scab exists or is suspected to exist (Article 5); c rules to be observed in infected places (Article 6); d the investigation by a veterinary inspector into the existence of sheep scab (Article 7); and e requirements at slaughter (Article 8). 2 Part III contains provisions relating to the movement of sheep and includes provisions which– a enable restrictions to be imposed on the movement of sheep where this may give rise to the risk of the spread of sheep scab (Article 9); b empower an inspector, by notice, to require sheep which are affected or suspected of being affected with sheep scab to be removed from markets or places of exhibition (Article 10); and c prohibit the movement of sheep which are affected or suspected of being affected with sheep scab on to, and their grazing on, any common or unenclosed land, unfenced fields or highway (Article 11). 3 Part IV contains provisions which apply in areas which are declared to be infected areas by an order of the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Article 12)Part IV includes provisions concerning– a compulsory dipping of sheep in an infected area and specified exemptions (Article 13); b prohibition of the movement of sheep within or out of an infected area subject to exceptions (Article 14); and c an obligation for those responsible for sheep in an infected area to make a declaration to the local authority that the sheep have been dipped or are exempt (Article 15). 4 Part V contains general and supplementary provisions and includes provisions which– a empower an inspector, by notice, to require the owner of sheep which are kept on any common or unenclosed land either to move them off such land and not to move them back on to the land without an inspector’s written approval or to gather them together on some specified part of the land and not to move them from there without such approval (Article 16); b empower the local authority to seize sheep and dispose of such sheep if unable to establish ownership (Article 17); c require a sheep dealer (as defined in the Order) to make a record in a specified form relating to every purchase and sale of sheep by him and to keep such record for a period of 12 months from the date of the purchase or sale to which it relates (Article 18); d enable an inspector to mark sheep (Article 19); e empower an inspector, who has reasonable grounds for supposing sheep have not been dipped as required, to require those sheep to be dipped at a specified place and time and to the inspector’s satisfaction (Article 20); f empower an inspector to require a person who has dipped any sheep in accordance with a requirement contained in the Order to provide a sample of the sheep dip or dipping bath used or to permit an inspector to take such a sample (Article 21); g require dipped sheep moved under the Order to be kept separate from undipped sheep (Article 22); and h empower an inspector to require the cleansing and disinfection of premises used for dipping sheep and of vehicles used for the carriage of sheep (Article 23). 5 The changes of substance are– a reduction in the involvement of inspectors supervising dipping on infected premises; b simplification of the system for licensing movements; c simplification of the infected area provisions. Contravention of the Order is an offence under the Animal Health Act 1981.

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