Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

Crimes Act 1961

1: Short Title, commencement, etc

You could also call this:

“This explains the name of the law, when it starts, and what parts it contains.”

This law is called the Crimes Act 1961. It started working on 1 January 1962.

The Act is split into different parts. Each part deals with different types of crimes or legal matters. Here’s what each part covers:

Part 1 talks about where the law applies. Part 2 is about punishments. Part 3 explains when something might be allowed or excused. Part 4 is about people who help commit crimes.

Part 5 covers crimes that upset public order. Part 6 is about crimes that mess with how the law and justice work. Part 7 deals with crimes against morals, decency, sex crimes, and crimes that harm public welfare.

Part 8 is about crimes against people. Part 9 covers crimes that hurt someone’s reputation. Part 9A is about crimes that invade personal privacy.

Part 10 deals with crimes against property rights. Part 11 is about threatening to commit crimes, planning crimes with others, or trying to commit crimes.

Part 12 explains how legal procedures work. Part 13 is about appeals, which is when you ask for a decision to be changed. Finally, Part 14 covers other important bits that don’t fit anywhere else.

Each part includes specific sections of the law. If you want to know more about a certain part, you can look up those sections.

This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.

View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM327386.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Criminal law
Government and voting > Government departments
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2: Interpretation, or

“This section explains the meanings of important words and phrases used in the law, helping people understand legal terms in simpler language.”

1Short Title, commencement, etc

  1. This Act may be cited as the Crimes Act 1961.

  2. This Act shall come into force on 1 January 1962.

  3. This Act is divided into Parts, as follows:

    Part 1—Jurisdiction (sections 5 to 12)

    Part 2—Punishments (sections 13 to 19)

    Part 3—Matters of justification or excuse (sections 20 to 65)

    Part 4—Parties to the commission of offences (sections 66 to 72)

    Part 5—Crimes against public order (sections 73 to 98F)

    Part 6—Crimes affecting the administration of law and justice (sections 99 to 122)

    Part 7—Crimes against morality and decency, sexual crimes, and crimes against public welfare (sections 124 to 150)

    Part 8—Crimes against the person (sections 150A to 210A)

    Part 9—Crimes against reputation (sections 211 to 216)

    Part 9A—Crimes against personal privacy (sections 216A to 216N)

    Part 10—Crimes against rights of property (sections 217 to 305)

    Part 11—Threatening, conspiring, and attempting to commit offences (sections 306 to 312)

    Part 12—Procedure (sections 313 to 378F)

    Part 13—Appeals (sections 379 to 399)

    Part 14—Miscellaneous provisions (sections 400 to 415)

Notes
  • Section 1(3): amended, on , by section 13 of the Crimes Amendment Act 2019 (2019 No 4).
  • Section 1(3): amended, on , by section 325(2) of the Search and Surveillance Act 2012 (2012 No 24).
  • Section 1(3): amended, on , by section 4 of the Crimes Amendment Act 2012 (2012 No 8).
  • Section 1(3): amended, on , by section 5 of the Crimes Amendment Act 1979 (1979 No 5).