UK Offence Report

SCHEDULE 1

SCHEDULE 1 of The Greater London Authority (Referendum Arrangements) Order 1998

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

4 A person shall also be guilty of an offence if he votes as proxy in any voting area for more than two persons of whom he is not the husband, wife, parent, grandparent, brother, sister, child or grandchild. .

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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) - 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 knowing that - which element it governs was not determined.

What would breach 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. On these words an offence is committed where a person votes as proxy in any voting area for more than two persons of whom he is not the husband, wife, parent, grandparent, brother, sister, child or grandchild.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Greater London Authority (Referendum Arrangements) Order 1998, 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
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£5,000
Standard scale
Level 5
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

this is the level 5 value when the instrument came into force (1998-03-19); the standard scale is keyed to the date the offence was committed, and for conduct today the same words mean an unlimited fine.

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
18 March 1998
In force from
19 March 1998
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 conduct of the referendum to be held under section 1 of the Greater London Authority (Referendum) Act 1998 (“the 1998 Act”) on the establishment of a Greater London Authority made up of an elected assembly and a separately elected mayor. The referendum is to be held on 7th May 1998 (although section 1 of the 1998 Act enables a later date to be prescribed). Article 4 of the Order exempts advertisements relating specifically to the referendum from regulations under the Town and Country Planning Act 1990 controlling the display of advertisements. Article 5 provides that premises in Greater London used in relation to the referendum for public meetings or the taking of the poll shall be treated as unoccupied for rating purposes. Article 6 provides that an alteration in an electoral register after 6th April 1998 shall not have effect for the purposes of the referendum. Article 7 makes provision for the exercise of functions conferred on the returning officer by the Order. Article 8 provides that the hours of polling shall be between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. Article 9 makes provision in respect of referendum ballot papers. The question to be asked and the front of the ballot papers are in the form set out in the Schedule to the 1998 Act. Article 10 makes provision for the functions of counting officers appointed under section 3 of the 1998 Act and in relation to the counting of votes at the referendum. Article 11 provides that the Chief Counting Officer’s fee and charges shall be paid out of the Consolidated Fund. Article 12 applies the provisions set out in column (1) of the Tables in Schedule 1 with the modifications shown in column (2) of those Tables and makes some general modifications to those provisions. Article 13 provides that Schedule 2 has effect where the polls at the referendum and the ordinary election of London borough councillors are combined. Section 4(1) of the 1998 Act provides that the polls at the referendum and such an ordinary election shall be taken together when they are to be taken on the same day. The ordinary election of councillors is to be held on 7th May 1998. Schedule 1 sets out the enactments and provisions made under enactments which are applied, with or without modifications, in relation to the referendum— Table 1 applies provisions in the Representation of the People Act 1983, including provision in respect of personation and other voting offences and corrupt and illegal practices Table 2 applies provisions in Schedule 2 to the Local Elections (Principal Areas) Rules 1986 which contains the rules (“election rules”) applicable to the conduct of elections of the council of a principal area, including a London borough Table 3 applies the provisions of the Representation of the People Act 1985 relating to voting by post or proxy Table 4 applies provisions in the Representation of the People Regulations 1986 relating to applications for a postal or proxy vote and the proceedings on the issue and receipt of postal ballot papers Schedule 2 makes provision in respect of combined polls for the referendum and London borough elections— Part I makes general provision, including provision that the same ballot box shall be used and that the ballot papers at the two polls should be of different colours Part II modifies the election rules and those rules as applied to the referendum by Table 2 of Schedule 1 Part III enables the proceedings on the issue and receipt of postal ballot papers in respect of the ordinary election and the referendum to be taken together and makes provision for cases where those proceeding are taken together and where they are not.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

What Parliament said

Mentions of this instrument in Hansard. Parliamentary material is reused under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0.

Other offences in the same 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