UK Offence Report

12 Any person who, without lawful authority or excuse, proof of which shall lie on him, contravenes any…

article 12 of The Heads of Sheep and Goats Order 1996

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

12 Any person who, without lawful authority or excuse, proof of which shall lie on him, contravenes any provision of this Order commits an offence against the Animal Health Act 1981.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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

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.

“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: no word of intention, knowledge, recklessness or negligence in the offence or its provision; qualified by lawful excuse (an element).

The defence, as drafted

12 Any person who, without lawful authority or excuse, proof of which shall lie on him, contravenes any provision of this Order commits an offence against the Animal Health Act 1981.

What would breach article 12?

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 proof of which shall lie on him, contravenes any provision of this Order.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Heads of Sheep and Goats Order 1996, whatever the reason for doing it.
  3. 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
3 September 1996
In force from
15 September 1996
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 prohibits the sale for human consumption of any part of the head of a sheep or goat and of food containing any part of such heads. It also prohibits the sale of any part of the head of a sheep or goat for use in the preparation of food for sale for human consumption and the use of any part of such heads in the preparation of such food (article 3). The definition of “the head of a sheep or goat” does not include the tongue and the prohibitions do not apply to the heads of sheep and goats which were born, reared and slaughtered in Australia or New Zealand. The heads of sheep and goats are required to be removed immediately after slaughter and stained and disposed of in accordance with the Order (articles 4 and 5) except in prescribed circumstances (article 7). The Order also regulates the manner of their disposal (articles 9 and 10). Conditions are laid down for the rendering of whole carcases (article 6) and for the bringing into Great Britain of heads of sheep and goats from Northern Ireland (article 8). A Compliance Cost Assessment has been prepared and placed in the library of each House of Parliament. Copies can be obtained from the Animal Health (BSE 1) Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Government Buildings, Hook Rise South, Tolworth, Surbiton, Surrey KT6 7NF.

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