You can still find yourself in trouble without being charged with a Criminal offence ( under the Criminal Code). Anyone who’s ever been a director or run a company or business, been a member of a regulated profession, worked for a trade or a sporting association, provided financial services or worked in local government would know that there is a confusing number of rules and regulations that restrict how you can interract with others in certain situations.

You are presumed by law to know what the rules are that govern you. Therefore the law says you should be able to decide freely whether or not to follow those rules. If you don’t, then obviously, being presumed to know “right from wrong”, you are liable to be punished for your wrongdoing.

Some specialised regulations go even further than that. Take the rules governing horse racing. These allow you to be disqualified from training or riding a horse if you have broken the rules.

An example is if you have administered a prohibited substance to a horse. Even if you did so under veterinary advice and even if you didn’t know that the substance your vet told you to administer was in fact prohibited, you can still be found guilty of breaching the rules and potentially lose your livelihood.

In those types of cases, your honest but mistaken belief that you weren’t doing anything wrong may not afford you a defence to the charge but it may still be taken into account in mitigation of your penalty, so it is still worth seeking legal advice.

In other cases, like under the Road Traffic Act, there may be a prescribed minimum penalty that applies regardless of circumstances. Take, for example, the recent case of Dr Nugawela who lost his Lamborghini which was impounded after his mechanic raced the car past 180km/hour during a test drive. The rules didn’t provide the good Doctor with recourse to get the car back!

Certain other defences may still be available to you, like “honest and reasonable mistake of fact” (if you were confused about something that made your actions illegal) or “sudden and extraordinary emergency” (which may be used as a defence if, for example, you are charged with urinating in public). Legal advice may well be highly valuable. Book your LID appointment for 20 minutes of legal advice for free or just call our receptionist on 9221 2339.

Related Havilah Legal service(s): Commercial Litigation, Criminal Law