Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Strict liability definition

What does Strict liability mean? In practice, strict liability describes criminal or regulatory offences where the prosecution need not prove mens rea for one or more elements of the actus reus; once the prohibited conduct or state of affairs is established, liability follows. It is typically encountered in statutory “public welfare” or regulatory offences (for example, health and safety, environmental protection, food safety and some road traffic provisions), and in limited areas such as the age element in certain sexual offences. There is no single statutory definition. Whether an offence is of strict liability is determined by statutory wording as interpreted by the courts. Across England...

Animals Act 1971 (England and Wales): strict liability for dangerous species, classification criteria, definition of ‘keeper’, and abandonment

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Practice notes

This Practice Note outlines a keeper’s responsibility for injuries inflicted by animals of a dangerous species. An animal falls within a dangerous species where it is not ordinarily domesticated in the British Isles and, when mature, is liable to inflict serious harm unless controlled. For animals in this category, liability is strict in law. The Note also clarifies who qualifies as a keeper and considers liability where animals are abandoned. In this Practice Note, the Animals Act 1971 is abbreviated to AA 1971.

strict liability

Under AA 1971, s 2(1), a keeper of an animal of a dangerous species is strictly liable for any damage it causes. The claimant need only establish that the defendant was the animal’s keeper and that the animal caused the injury. Because the liability is strict, there is no need to prove fault. This places the focus on keeper status and causation, not fault...

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Web page updated on 21/05/2026

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