CRIMINAL LAW CONSOLIDATION ACT 1935 - SECT 171
CRIMINAL LAW CONSOLIDATION ACT 1935 - SECT 171
(1) In this
Part—
"demand" includes an implied demand;
"harm" means—
(a)
physical or mental harm (including humiliation or serious embarrassment); or
(b) harm
to a person's property (including economic harm);
"menace"—a person who makes a threat
"menaces" the person to whom the threat is addressed (the
"victim") if—
(a) the
threat is a threat of harm to the victim or a third person (to be inflicted by
the person making the threat or someone else); and
(b) the
threat is unwarranted; and
(c)
either—
(i)
the threat would be taken seriously by a reasonable
person of normal stability and courage; or
(ii)
the victim in fact takes the threat seriously because of
a particular vulnerability known to the person making the threat;
"serious offence" means an offence punishable by imprisonment;
"threat" includes an implied threat but, unless the threat is a threat of
violence, does not include a threat made in the course of, or incidentally
to—
(a)
collective bargaining; or
(b)
negotiations to secure a political or industrial advantage;
"unwarranted"—a threat is unwarranted if—
(a) the
carrying out of the threat would (if it were carried out in the State)
constitute a serious offence; or
(b) the
making of the threat is, in the circumstances in which it is made—
(i)
improper according to the standards of ordinary people;
and
(ii)
known by the person making the threat to be improper
according to the standards of ordinary people.
(2) The question
whether a defendant's conduct was improper according to the standards of
ordinary people is a question of fact to be decided according to the jury's
own knowledge and experience and not on the basis of evidence of those
standards.