UK Offence Report

Content of notices requiring delivery of signed marriage document or marriage schedule

regulation 11A(2)(f) of The Registration of Marriages (Amendment) 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

f explain that the person may commit an offence under section 76A of the Act if the person fails to comply with the notice.

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 This is the text as originally made; later amendments are not shown here.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 comply with a notice or direction
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 regulation 11A(2)(f)?

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. Being served with a notice under the Registration of Marriages (Amendment) Regulations 2021 and doing nothing by the date it specifies.
  2. Doing part of what the notice requires, where it required all of it.
  3. Disagreeing with the notice and ignoring it, rather than using whatever appeal the instrument provides.

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 76A of the Act.

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
Status not determined
Made
30 March 2021
In force from
Not determined
Extent
E+W+S

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 Registration of Marriages Regulations 2015 (“the 2015 Regulations”). The amendments are connected with the amendments to the Marriage Act 1949 (“the 1949 Act”) made by the Registration of Marriages Regulations 2021 (S.I. 2021/411). Those amendments to the 1949 Act provide for a “marriage document” to be issued by a member of the clergy where a marriage is to be solemnized following the publication of banns or on the authority of a special or common licence. They also provide for other marriages to be solemnized on the authority of a “marriage schedule” issued by a superintendent registrar (rather than, as formerly, on the authority of certificates). After solemnization of the marriage, the signed marriage document or marriage schedule must be returned to the registrar for the district in which the marriage was solemnized so that the registrar may then register the marriage. The amendments made to the 1949 Act also provide for the registration of marriages in a new electronic register instead of in marriage register books. Regulation 5 inserts new regulations 9A to 9C in the 2015 Regulations. New regulation 9A prescribes forms for marriage schedules, and new regulations 9B and 9C prescribe the content of spaces on those forms. Regulation 5 also inserts new regulation 9D, which prescribes a new form for a certificate for marriage issued in England or Wales under section 31 of the 1949 Act as applied by section 1(3) of the Marriage (Scotland) Act 1956. The new form is added by regulation 11(9) and Part 1 of the Schedule. Regulation 6 amends regulation 10 of the 2015 Regulations (with effect from 4th May 2021) to remove the form prescribed by that regulation for marriage certificates, since certificates for marriage are generally superseded by marriage schedules. Regulation 7 inserts new regulations 10A, 10B and 10C in the 2015 Regulations. New regulation 10A prescribes forms for marriage documents, and new regulations 10B and 10C prescribe the content of spaces on those forms. The prescribed forms for marriage schedules and marriage documents are added to the 2015 Regulations by regulation 11(2)(a) and (c), (8) and (11) and Part 2 of the Schedule. Regulation 8 amends regulation 11 of the 2015 Regulations. The amendments prescribe forms for instructions given by a superintendent registrar under section 31(5) of the 1949 Act when issuing a marriage schedule for a marriage to be solemnized in a registered building without a registrar being present. The forms are added to the 2015 Regulations by regulation 11(2)(d) and (13) and Part 2 of the Schedule. Regulation 11 of the 2015 Regulations continues also to prescribe forms for instructions given under section 31(5) when a certificate is issued for a marriage to be solemnized in a registered building without the presence of a registrar; but regulation 9 of these Regulations removes that provision with effect from 4th May 2021 when certificates for marriage will cease to be issued, and regulation 11(3) and (12) removes the forms. Regulation 10 inserts new Parts 2A, 2B and 2C in the 2015 Regulations, comprising new regulations 11A to 11L. New Part 2A (comprising new regulation 11A) of the 2015 Regulations prescribes the content of notices under sections 53D and 53E of the 1949 Act. Section 53D makes provision for cases where the signed marriage document or marriage schedule is not delivered to the registrar as required after solemnization of the marriage. It provides for a procedure by which this may be enforced by the issuing of notices by a registrar requiring delivery of the document or schedule. Section 53E makes similar provision for cases where the original marriage document or schedule has been lost or destroyed and a reproduction has been required. New Part 2B comprises new regulations 11B to 11G. New regulation 11B requires a registrar who has registered a marriage to send the marriage document or marriage schedule to the superintendent registrar, and requires superintendent registrars to keep these documents and schedules for at least 5 years. New regulations 11C to 11G provide for the closure of marriage register books formerly in use by registrars or for the registration of marriages solemnized in registered buildings without the presence of a registrar, and for copies of such closed books to be sent to and kept by the appropriate superintendent registrar. They also provide for the keeping of existing, filled register books formerly used for the registration of marriages solemnized in registered buildings without the presence of a registrar. New Part 2C comprises new regulations 11H to 11L. New regulations 11H and 11I provide for the correction of marriage schedules before solemnization of a marriage. New regulation 11J provides for the correction of a marriage document before solemnization of the marriage. New regulation 11K provides for the correction of entries in marriage register books kept by the superintendent registrar. New regulation 11L provides for the correction of entries in the new marriage register. Regulation 11(4) to (7) and (10) replaces specified forms in Schedule 1 to the 2015 Regulations. Regulation 12 amends Schedule 2 to the 2015 Regulations, which provides mandatory Welsh equivalents of English expressions required to be used in completing forms. The amendments are consequential on other amendments made by these Regulations. Further provision about the completion of forms is made by regulations 3(b) and 4. A full impact assessment has not been produced for this instrument because no, or no significant, impact on the private, voluntary or public sector is foreseen.

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 “commits an offence”; c10_offence_under_parent_act
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