UK Offence Report

Confidentiality: contravention

article 19(4)(a) of The Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 (Application to the Armed Forces) Order 2008

The provision has been revoked and no saving provision preserving liability for earlier conduct was found.

What the provision says

a if the offender is someone to whom paragraph 2(a) applies, he shall be guilty of an offence under section 57(1) of the Army Act 1955 by virtue of paragraph 15(1) of Schedule

3 to the Armed Forces Act 1976, and paragraph 15(2) and (3) of that schedule shall apply; or

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 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.

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 19(4)(a)?

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 Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 (Application to the Armed Forces) Order 2008.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Set by another provision — the instrument states the penalty by reference to an Act or to another regulation
Maximum fine
Not determined
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

The instrument does not state a penalty itself. It sets one by reference to section 57(1) of the Army Act 1955.

penalty is that of the referenced enactment; not stated in this instrument.

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
Revoked
Revoked by
The Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 (Application to the Armed Forces) Order 2009
Revoked on
31 October 2009
Made
7 March 2008
In force from
1 April 2008
Extent
Not stated

How this was established: the instrument was revoked by a later instrument found in this corpus.

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 provisions with respect to proceedings before a court-martial under the Army Act 1955, the Air Force Act 1955 and the Naval Discipline Act 1957, and with respect to proceedings before a Standing Civilian Court constituted under the Armed Forces Act 1976. The provisions are equivalent (with modifications) to those of Part 1 of the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 (‘the 1996 Act’) which impose duties of disclosure on prosecutors and accused. The modifications provided for in the order are to adjust the working of the provisions to the circumstances of, and legislation governing, proceedings before courts-martial and Standing Civilian Courts, an important example being the fact that courts-martial are not standing courts.

Read the full note and every offence in this instrument

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 0.61.

Basis
the provision says a person is “guilty of an offence”; c10_offence_under_parent_act
Confidence
0.61 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