UK Offence Report

Amendment of Part 6 of the 1949 Act (general)

paragraph 46 of SCHEDULE 1 of The Registration of Marriages Regulations 2021

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

46 After section

76 of the 1949 Act insert— Offence of failing to attend premises in compliance with

a section 53D(8) or section 53E(10) notice 76A

1 A person who, without reasonable cause, fails to attend premises in compliance with

a notice issued under section 53D(8) or section 53E(10) commits an offence.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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
failing to do something the instrument requires
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 paragraph 46 of 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 fails to attend premises in compliance with a notice issued under section 53D(8) or section 53E(10).
  2. Not doing what the provision requires under the Registration of Marriages Regulations 2021, by the time it requires it to be done.
  3. Doing it, but not in the manner or to the standard the instrument specifies.

Penalty

Mode of trial
Summary only — tried in a magistrates’ court
Maximum fine
£1,000
Standard scale
Level 3
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
26 March 2021
In force from
Not determined
Extent
E+W

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 Regulations) — the explanatory note published with the instrument, © Crown copyright.

These Regulations amend the Marriage Act 1949 (“the 1949 Act”) to provide for a new marriage registration system. The Regulations also, in Part 2, amend section 28B of the 1949 Act to specify the evidence that must accompany a notice of marriage where a party to the marriage is a relevant national by virtue of having status, or a pending application for status (within the meaning of regulation 4 of the Citizens’ Rights (Application Deadline and Temporary Protection) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 (S.I. 2020/1209)), under the EU Settlement Scheme (“the EUSS”). The EUSS was established by the Government in Appendix EU to the Immigration Rules. Parts 3 and 4 (and Part 1 of Schedule 1) insert provision in the 1949 Act for a new registration system. The amendments provide that a clergyman solemnizing a marriage after the publication of banns, on the authority of a special licence or on the authority of a common licence must issue a marriage document before solemnizing the marriage. The amendments also provide that any other marriage is only to be solemnized after the superintendent registrar for the registration district in which the marriage is taking place has issued a marriage schedule. The amendments further provide that following solemnization of the marriage, the marriage document or marriage schedule must be signed and returned to the registrar for the registration district in which the marriage took place. The registrar must then register the marriage by entering particulars into a register, accessible in electronic form. The clergyman will be responsible for returning the marriage document to the registrar and the specified person (as defined in new section 53C(8), inserted by regulation 7) will be responsible for returning the marriage schedule, except in respect of a marriage schedule where the marriage was solemnized by a registrar. Part 4 revokes provisions in the 1949 Act which required marriages to be solemnized on the issue of two certificates of a superintendent registrar and which required marriages to be registered by a number of different persons. Part 5 amends the Marriage of British Subjects (Facilities) Act 1915 and the Marriage of British Subjects (Facilities) Amendment Act 1916, so that those Acts will no longer apply in respect of England and Wales. Part 1 of Schedule 1 contains consequential and related amendments to the 1949 Act. These include creation of a new offence of failing to attend at the office of a registrar after having been given notice to do so for the purpose of returning a signed marriage document or marriage schedule (as the case may be). The amendments also enable the Registrar General to prescribe the form of a marriage document and marriage schedule. Part 2 of Schedule 1 contains consequential amendments to other primary legislation, including the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1956, the Marriage (Registrar General’s Licence) Act 1970 and the Immigration Act 2014. Part 3 of Schedule 1 contains consequential amendments to secondary legislation. Schedule 2 contains transitional provisions, to enable a smooth transition to the new registration system. The impact of the new marriage registration system on the public sector is outlined in the impact assessment prepared for the Registration of Marriage Bill 2017 – 2019 available via the Explanatory Notes for that Bill at https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/lbill/2017-2019/0019/Impact-assessment.pdf. Hard copies can be obtained by writing to the Civil Registration Reform Team, General Register Office, Smedley Hydro, Trafalgar Road, Birkdale, Southport PR8 2HH. A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument as no, or no significant, additional impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen.

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 “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