Part 3Matters of justification or excuse
Ignorance of law
25Ignorance of law
The fact that an offender is ignorant of the law is not an excuse for any offence committed by him or her.
Compare
- 1908 No 32 s 45
Crimes Act 1961
Matters of justification or excuse - Ignorance of law
25: Ignorance of law
"Not knowing the rules doesn't mean you can break them without consequences."
If you don't know about a law, it doesn't mean you can break it without consequences. Even if you didn't realise something was against the law, you can still be held responsible for doing it. The law applies to everyone, whether they know about it or not. This means you can't use not knowing about a law as an excuse for breaking it.
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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM328230.