UK Offence Report

Amendment of the 1927 Act

article 20 of The Littlehampton Harbour Revision Order 2015

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

20 For section 70(2) of the 1927 Act, substitute —

2 A person who contravenes

a byelaw made by the Harbour Board under the powers of the Harbours Docks and Piers Clauses Act 1847 or this section is guilty of an offence and liable on summary conviction to

a fine not exceeding level

4 on the standard scale.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
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 20?

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 contravenes a byelaw made by the Harbour Board under the powers of the Harbours Docks and Piers Clauses Act 1847 or this section.
  2. Doing the thing the provision prohibits under the Littlehampton Harbour Revision Order 2015, 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
£2,500
Standard scale
Level 4
Maximum prison (summary)
Not determined

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
12 June 2015
In force from
10 July 2015
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— a defines and extends the limits of Littlehampton Harbour (article 3); b in Part 2 confers on the Littlehampton Harbour Board (“the Board”) and the harbour master (defined in article 2) powers of direction for the regulation and management of the harbour; c confers on the Board powers in respect of harbour services and facilities (article 11); d establishes the conditions for a duly authorised officer of the Board to board a vessel (defined in article 2) for certain purposes (article 12); e empowers the Board to require information in writing from the owner or master of a vessel embarking or disembarking passengers, or loading or unloading cargo, within the harbour for the purpose of determining whether landing charges are payable (article 13); f creates an offence of failing to provide such information or knowingly or recklessly providing false information, the penalty for which on summary conviction is a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale (article 13(6)); g empowers the Board to revoke existing byelaws (article 17); h empowers the Board for the management of the harbour to lease or grant the use or occupation of land or other property forming part of the harbour undertaking (defined in article 2) and to dispose of or grant the use or occupation of property vested in and held by them which is no longer required for the management of the harbour (article 18); i enables the Board to carry on certain commercial activities (article 19) and j amends section 70 of the Littlehampton Harbour and Drainage Outfall Act 1927 (1927 c.lxvii) to increase the penalty on summary conviction for contravention of a byelaw made by the Board to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale (article 20). Article 14 creates an offence of intentionally obstructing or threatening, or without reasonable excuse failing to give information to, an officer of the Board, or of giving false information to such an officer, for which the penalty on summary conviction of any such offence is a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale. A full assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no impact on business or the private or voluntary sector is foreseen. The harbour map (article 3(3)) which delineates the seaward limits of the harbour (article 3(2)) may be inspected during working hours at the principle office of the Board at the Harbour Office, Pier Road, Littlehampton, West Sussex, BN17 5LR.

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 0.92.

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