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This Act may be cited as the Criminal Code Act Compilation Act 1913, and shall come into operation on 1 January 1914.
The Acts and parts of an Act set out in Appendix A are hereby repealed, and the compiled Act set forth in Appendix B is hereby enacted under the title of the Criminal Code Act 1913.
All offices, appointments, regulations, rules, convictions, sentences, judgments, orders, registers, records, certificates, and instruments, and generally all acts of authority, which originated or were operative or subsisting under any enactment repealed by this Act and hereby re‑enacted with or without modification, and which are subsisting or in force on or immediately prior to the commencement of the compiled Act shall, subject to that Act, enure for the purposes thereof as fully and effectually as if they had originated under the corresponding provisions of that Act, and accordingly shall, where necessary, be deemed to have so originated.
All offences committed against and all pending matters and proceedings commenced under any such enactment may be prosecuted, continued, and completed under and subject to the provisions of the compiled Act.
1 and 2 Edw. VII No. 14 — The Criminal Code Act 1902
2 Edw. VII No. 29 — The Criminal Code Amendment Act 1902
No. 13 of 1905 — The Secret Commissions Act 1905
No. 31 of 1906 — The Criminal Code Amendment Act 1906
No. 28 of 1911 — The Criminal Code Amendment Act 1911
No. 52 of 1911 — The Criminal Code Amendment Act 1911
Sections 2 to 29 (both inclusive) of Act No. 15 of 1913 — The Criminal Code Amendment Act 1913
An Act to establish a Code of Criminal Law.
Preamble
Whereas it is desirable to declare and consolidate the Criminal Law: Be it enacted and declared by the King’s Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
This Act may be cited as the Criminal Code Act 1913.
The provisions contained in the Code of Criminal Law set forth in the Schedule to this Act, and hereinafter called the Code, shall be the law of Western Australia with respect to the several matters therein dealt with.
The said Code may be cited as “The Criminal Code”.
The following rules shall, unless the context otherwise indicates, apply with respect to the construction of statutes, statutory rules, local laws, by‑laws, and other instruments, that is to say —
When in any statute, statutory rule, local law, by‑law, or other instrument, public or private, the term felony is used, or reference is made to an offence by the name of felony, it shall be taken that reference is intended to an offence which is a crime under the provisions of the Code:
When in any statute, statutory rule, local law, by‑law, or other instrument, public or private, the term murder is used, it shall be taken that reference is intended to include the crime that was called wilful murder under the Code as it was before the commencement of the Criminal Law Amendment (Homicide) Act 2008:
When in any statute, statutory rule, local law, by‑law, or other instrument, public or private, the term larceny is used, it shall be taken that reference is intended to the crime of stealing:
When in any statute, statutory rule, local law, by‑law, or other instrument, public or private, reference is made to any offence by any specific name, it shall be taken that reference is intended to the offence which, under the provisions of the Code, is constituted by the act or omission that would heretofore have constituted the offence referred to:
When in any statute, statutory rule, local law, by‑law, or other instrument, public or private, reference is made to any of the statutory provisions hereby repealed, it shall be taken that reference is intended to the corresponding provisions or substituted provisions of the Code.
[Section 3 amended: No. 14 of 1996 s. 4; No. 57 of 1997 s. 45; No. 29 of 2008 s. 27.]
No person shall be liable to be tried or punished in Western Australia as for an offence, except under the express provisions of the Code, or some other statute law of Western Australia, or under the express provisions of some statute of the Commonwealth of Australia, or of the United Kingdom which is expressly applied to Western Australia, or which is in force in all parts of His Majesty’s dominions not expressly excepted from its operation, or which authorises the trial and punishment in Western Australia of offenders who have, at places not in Western Australia, committed offences against the laws of the Commonwealth of Australia or of the United Kingdom.
[Section 4 amended: No. 4 of 2004 s. 58.]
When, by the Code, any act is declared to be lawful, no action can be brought in respect thereof.
Except as aforesaid, the provisions of this Act shall not affect any right of action which any person would have had against another if this Act had not been passed; nor shall the omission from the Code of any penal provision in respect of any act or omission, which before the time of the coming into operation of the Code constituted an actionable wrong, affect any right of action in respect thereof.
[6. Deleted: No. 78 of 1995 s. 22.]
Nothing in this Act or in the Code shall affect the authority of courts of record to punish a person summarily for the offence commonly known as “contempt of court”; but so that a person cannot be so punished, and also punished under the provisions of the Code for the same act or omission.
[8. Deleted: No. 13 of 1984 s. 9.]
In this Code, unless the context otherwise indicates —
The term adult offender means, with respect to a person convicted of an offence, a person who had reached 18 years of age when the offence was committed;
The term aggravated home burglary means a home burglary committed in circumstances of aggravation (within the meaning given in section 400(1));
The term aircraft includes any machine that can derive support in the atmosphere from the reactions of the air;
The term assault has the definition provided in section 222;
The term Attorney General includes where there is a vacancy in the office of Attorney General the person appointed by the Governor to be Minister for Justice;
The term bodily harm means any bodily injury which interferes with health or comfort;
The term bribe means any property or benefit of any kind, whether pecuniary or otherwise, sought, offered, promised, agreed upon, given or obtained for the person being or to be bribed or any other person, in respect of any act done or to be done, or any omission made or to be made, or any favour or disfavour shown or to be shown, in relation to the performance or discharge of the functions of any office or employment, or the affairs or business of a principal;
The term child means —
any boy or girl under the age of 18 years; and
in the absence of positive evidence as to age, any boy or girl apparently under the age of 18 years;
The term circumstances of racial aggravation has the meaning given to it in section 80I;
The terms clerk and servant include any person employed for any purpose as or in the capacity of a clerk or servant, or as a collector of money, although temporarily only, or although employed also by other persons than the person alleged to be his employer, or although employed to pay as well as receive money, and any person employed as or in the capacity of a commission agent for the collection or disbursement of money, or in any similar capacity, although he has no authority from his employer to receive money or other property on his account;
The term company means an incorporated company;
The term conveyance means a vehicle, vessel or aircraft made, adapted, used, or intended to be used for the carriage of persons or goods;
The term court of summary jurisdiction means the Children’s Court when constituted so as not to consist of or include a judge of that court, the Magistrates Court, or any other court or any person that another written law says is a court of summary jurisdiction;
The term criminally responsible means liable to punishment as for an offence; and the term criminal responsibility means liability to punishment as for an offence;
The term damage, in relation to animate property, includes injure;
The term damage in relation to a record means to deal with the record so that —
information recorded or stored upon the record is obliterated or rendered illegible or irrecoverable; or
it can not convey a meaning in a visible or recoverable form;
The term destroy, in relation to animate property, means kill;
The term District Court means The District Court of Western Australia established under the District Court of Western Australia Act 1969;
The term dwelling means any building, structure, tent, vehicle or vessel, or part of any building, structure, tent, vehicle or vessel, that is ordinarily used for human habitation, and it is immaterial that it is from time to time uninhabited;
The term explosive substance includes a gaseous substance in such a state of compression as to be capable of explosion;
The term forge in relation to a record means to make, alter or deal with the record so that the whole of it or a material part of it —
purports to be what in fact it is not; or
purports to be made by a person who did not make it; or
purports to be made by authority of a person who did not give that authority;
The term grievous bodily harm means any bodily injury of such a nature as to endanger, or be likely to endanger life, or to cause, or be likely to cause, permanent injury to health;
The term home burglary means an offence against any provision of Chapter XXXIX (as enacted at any time) other than section 407 committed in respect of a place (within the meaning given in section 400(1)) ordinarily used for human habitation;
The term incites includes solicits and endeavours to persuade;
The term indictment means a written charge of an indictable offence presented to the Supreme Court or District Court in order that the accused person be tried by that court;
The term juvenile offender means, with respect to a person convicted of an offence, a person who had reached 16 but not 18 years of age when the offence was committed;
The term liable, used alone, means liable on conviction upon indictment;
The term member of the crew in relation to an aircraft means a person having duties or functions on board the aircraft;
The term mental illness means an underlying pathological infirmity of the mind, whether of short or long duration and whether permanent or temporary, but does not include a condition that results from the reaction of a healthy mind to extraordinary stimuli;
The term mental impairment means intellectual disability, mental illness, brain damage or senility;
The term money includes bank notes, bank drafts, cheques, and any other orders, warrants, authorities, or requests for the payment of money;
The term motor vehicle has the same meaning as it has in the Road Traffic (Administration) Act 2008 section 4;
The term night or night‑time means the interval between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.;
The term obtains includes obtains possession and, in relation to land, includes occupies or acquires the capacity to occupy;
The term person and owner and other like terms, when used with reference to property, include corporations of all kinds, and any other associations of persons capable of owning property: They also, when so used, include Her Majesty;
The term person employed in the Public Service includes members of the defence force and police officers, and persons employed to execute any process of a court of justice, and persons employed by the Commissioner of Railways;
The term possession includes having under control in any manner whatever, whether for the use or benefit of the person of whom the term is used or of another person, and although another person has the actual possession or custody of the thing or property in question;
The term property includes real and personal property and everything, animate or inanimate, capable of being the subject of ownership;
The term public officer means any of the following —
a police officer;
a Minister of the Crown;
a Parliamentary Secretary appointed under section 44A of the Constitution Acts Amendment Act 1899;
a member of either House of Parliament;
a person exercising authority under a written law;
a person authorised under a written law to execute or serve any process of a court or tribunal;
a public service officer or employee within the meaning of the Public Sector Management Act 1994;
a person who holds a permit to do high‑level security work as defined in the Court Security and Custodial Services Act 1999;
a person who holds a permit to do high‑level security work as defined in the Prisons Act 1981;
a member, officer or employee of any authority, board, corporation, commission, local government, council of a local government, council or committee or similar body established under a written law;
any other person holding office under, or employed by, the State of Western Australia, whether for remuneration or not;
The term public place includes —
a place to which the public, or any section of the public, has or is permitted to have access, whether on payment or otherwise; and
a privately owned place to which the public has access with the express or implied approval of, or without interference from, the owner, occupier or person who has the control or management of the place; and
a school, university or other place of education, other than a part of it to which neither students nor the public usually have access;
The term railway includes every kind of way on which vehicles are borne upon a rail or rails, whatever may be the means of propulsion;
The term receives includes obtains possession and, in relation to land, includes occupies or acquires the capacity to occupy;
The term record means any thing or process —
upon or by which information is recorded or stored; or
by means of which a meaning can be conveyed by any means in a visible or recoverable form,
whether or not the use or assistance of some electronic, electrical, mechanical, chemical or other device or process is required to recover or convey the information or meaning;
The terms registered brand and registered mark mean respectively a brand or mark which is registered under the authority of the laws relating to brands;
The term serious disease means a disease of such a nature as to —
endanger, or be likely to endanger, life; or
cause, or be likely to cause, permanent injury to health;
The term ship includes every kind of vessel used in navigation not propelled by oars;
The term summarily has the meaning given by subsection (5);
The term summary conviction means conviction otherwise than on indictment;
The term thing sent by post includes any letter, newspaper, packet, parcel, or other thing, authorised by law to be transmitted by post, which has been posted or received at a post office for delivery or transmission by post, and which is in course of transmission by post, and any movable receptacle which contains any such thing, and which is in course of transmission by post;
The term utter in relation to a forged record means use or deal with the record knowing that the record is forged;
The term valuable security includes any document which is the property of any person, and which is evidence of the ownership of any property or of the right to recover or receive any property;
The term vehicle includes any thing made, adapted or intended to be propelled or drawn on wheels, tracks or rails by any means;
The term vessel includes a ship, a boat, and every other kind of vessel used in navigation.
For the purposes of this Code —
a flight of an aircraft shall be taken to commence —
at the time of the closing of the external door of the aircraft last to be closed before the aircraft first moves for the purpose of taking off from any place; or
if subparagraph (i) is not applicable, at the time at which the aircraft first moves for the purpose of taking off from any place;
and
a flight of an aircraft shall be taken to end —
at the time of the opening of the external door of the aircraft first to be opened after the aircraft comes to rest after its next landing after the commencement of the flight; or
if subparagraph (i) is not applicable, at the time at which the aircraft comes to rest after its next landing after the commencement of the flight,
or, if the aircraft is destroyed, or the flight is abandoned, before either subparagraph (i) or subparagraph (ii) becomes applicable, at the time at which the aircraft is destroyed or the flight is abandoned, as the case may be.
Nothing in this Code empowering the detention in, or committal to, custody of any person (however the power may be expressed) shall be read as limiting the operation of section 4 of the Bail Act 1982.
In this Code, unless the context otherwise indicates —
a reference to causing or doing bodily harm to a person includes a reference to causing a person to have a disease which interferes with health or comfort; and
a reference to intending to cause or intending to do bodily harm to a person includes a reference to intending to cause a person to have a disease which interferes with health or comfort; and
a reference to causing or doing grievous bodily harm to a person includes a reference to causing a person to have a serious disease; and
a reference to intending to cause or intending to do grievous bodily harm to a person includes a reference to intending to cause a person to have a serious disease.
In this Code, unless the context otherwise indicates —
a reference to causing or doing bodily harm to a person includes, if the person is a pregnant woman, a reference to causing or doing bodily harm to the woman’s unborn child; and
a reference to intending to cause or intending to do bodily harm to a person includes, if the person is a pregnant woman, a reference to intending to cause or intending to do bodily harm to the woman’s unborn child; and
a reference to causing or doing grievous bodily harm to a person includes, if the person is a pregnant woman —
a reference to causing or doing grievous bodily harm to the woman’s unborn child; and
a reference to causing the loss of the woman’s pregnancy;
and
a reference to intending to cause or intending to do grievous bodily harm to a person includes, if the person is a pregnant woman —
a reference to intending to cause or intending to do grievous bodily harm to the woman’s unborn child; and
a reference to intending to cause the loss of the woman’s pregnancy.
In this Code, unless the context otherwise indicates, a reference to a charge being dealt with summarily is a reference to the charge being dealt with otherwise than on an indictment.
Nothing in this Code affects the operation of the Children’s Court of Western Australia Act 1988 and in particular the jurisdiction of the Children’s Court to deal with indictable offences.
[Section 1 amended: No. 55 of 1953 s. 2; No. 53 of 1964 s. 2; No. 21 of 1972 s. 3; No. 38 of 1977 s. 3; No. 87 of 1982 s. 30; No. 119 of 1985 s. 4; No. 106 of 1987 s. 4; No. 70 of 1988 s. 4, 19(2) and 31; No. 101 of 1990 s. 4; No. 37 of 1991 s. 16; No. 14 of 1992 s. 4(1); No. 51 of 1992 s. 3; No. 32 of 1994 s. 10; No. 14 of 1996 s. 4; No. 34 of 1996 s. 4; No. 36 of 1996 s. 4; No. 69 of 1996 s. 6; No. 43 of 1999 s. 20; No. 47 of 1999 s. 10; No. 4 of 2004 s. 27; No. 59 of 2004 s. 80; No. 70 of 2004 s. 4; No. 80 of 2004 s. 4; No. 2 of 2008 s. 4; No. 8 of 2012 s. 183; No. 25 of 2015 s. 4; No. 49 of 2016 s. 98.]