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Criminal Code Act 1983
30Ignorance of law: bona fide claim of right, &c.
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30 Ignorance of law: bona fide claim of right, &c.
(1) Subject to subsections (2) and (3), ignorance of the law does not
afford an excuse unless knowledge of the law by the offender is
expressly declared to be an element of the offence.
(2) A person is excused from criminal responsibility for an act or
omission done or made with respect to, or for an event caused to,
property in the exercise of an honest claim of right and without
intention to defraud.
(3) A person is excused from criminal responsibility for an act, omission
or event done, made or caused in contravention of a statutory
instrument if, at the time of doing, making or causing it, the statutory
instrument was not known to him and had not been published or
otherwise reasonably made available or known to the public or
Criminal Code Act 1983 25
those persons likely to be affected by it.
(4) For the purposes of subsection (3), published means published in
the Gazette or notified in the Gazette as having been made.