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Crimes Act 1961

Crimes affecting the administration of law and justice - Contravention of statute

107: Contravention of statute

You could also call this:

“Breaking rules set by the government can lead to punishment”

If you break a law on purpose without a good reason, you could go to jail for up to 1 year. This applies when you do something the law says you shouldn’t do, or when you don’t do something the law says you must do. But there are two times when this rule doesn’t apply:

  1. If the law already says what will happen to you if you break it.

  2. If the thing you did or didn’t do is just about paperwork or office tasks, or if punishing you for it doesn’t make sense based on what the law is trying to do.

This rule doesn’t apply to old British laws that are still used in New Zealand. It also doesn’t apply if you don’t do something that an old British law says you must do.

The terms “Imperial enactment” and “Imperial subordinate legislation” are explained in section 2 of the Imperial Laws Application Act 1988. These terms refer to the old British laws mentioned earlier.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM328788.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Criminal law
Government and voting > Government departments
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“The Attorney-General must say it's okay before someone can be taken to court for certain crimes.”

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“Lying under oath in a legal setting is against the law.”

Part 6 Crimes affecting the administration of law and justice
Contravention of statute

107Contravention of statute

  1. Every one is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 1 year who, without lawful excuse, contravenes any enactment by wilfully doing any act which it forbids, or by wilfully omitting to do any act which it requires to be done, unless—

  2. some penalty or punishment is expressly provided by law in respect of such contravention as aforesaid; or
    1. in the case of any such contravention in respect of which no penalty or punishment is so provided, the act forbidden or required to be done is solely of an administrative or a ministerial or procedural nature, or it is otherwise inconsistent with the intent and object of the enactment, or with its context, that the contravention should be regarded as an offence.

      1. Nothing in subsection (1) applies to any contravention of any Imperial enactment or Imperial subordinate legislation that is part of the laws of New Zealand, or to any omission to do any act which any such Imperial enactment or Imperial subordinate legislation requires to be done.

      2. In subsection (2), the terms Imperial enactment and Imperial subordinate legislation have the meanings given to them by section 2 of the Imperial Laws Application Act 1988.

      Compare
      • 1908 No 32 s 129
      Notes
      • Section 107(2): inserted, on , by section 2 of the Crimes Amendment Act 1988 (1988 No 114).
      • Section 107(3): inserted, on , by section 2 of the Crimes Amendment Act 1988 (1988 No 114).