Section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 on

							Section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 on a wallet sized card

When printed and laminated, this makes a handy wallet sized card containing the text of S.139 of the
1988 Criminal Justice act, along with a 3” ruler on it in case you get questioned by security guards or
police about your carrying a legal non-locking 3” (or less) folding pocketknife as a result of the
currently growing “anti-knife” culture in the UK promulgated by the tabloid press and pressure groups.
Print this out, then cut out the two cards and laminate them back-to-back.

I am not a lawyer, and am providing this only as a helpful aide-memoire to the terms of section 139 of
the CJA for responsible people who are carrying a legal folding pocketknife for legitimate and legal
purposes (e.g. cutting fruit, opening boxes, cutting string or tape and so on).

David Appleton

P.S. Please feel free to distribute this PDF. Any future changes to it to reflect changes to the law will be
available at http://www.davidappleton.co.uk/bbforum/cja1988_s139_card.pdf



                                                 CJA 1988 – Section 139: Offence of having article with blade or point in
                                                 public place
                                                 (1)        Subject to subsections (4) and (5) below, any person who has an article to which this
                                                            section applies with him in a public place shall be guilty of an offence.
                                                 (2)        Subject to subsection (3) below, this section applies to any article which has a blade or
                                                            is sharply pointed except a folding pocketknife.
                                                 (3)        This section applies to a folding pocketknife if the cutting edge of its blade exceeds 3
                                                            inches.
                                                 (4)        It shall be a defence for a person charged with an offence under this section to prove
                                                            that he had good reason or lawful authority for having the article with him in a public
                                                            place.
                                                 (5)        Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (4) above, it shall be a defence for a
                                                            person charged with an offence under this section to prove that he had the article with
                                                            him —
                                                            a.        for use at work;
                                                            b.        for religious reasons; or
                                                            c.        as part of any national costume.
                                                 (6)        A person guilty of an offence under subsection (1) above shall be liable -
                                                            a.        on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months,
                                                                      or a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or both;
                                                            b.        on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two
                                                                      years, or a fine, or both.                                           (Continues overleaf)




                                                 (7)        In this section “public place” includes any place to which at the material time the public
                                                            have or are permitted access, whether on payment or otherwise.
                                                 (8)        This section shall not have effect in relation to anything done before it comes into force.


                                                 This 3 inch rule is provided to allow quick and easy measurement of the cutting edge of the
                                                 blade of a non-locking folding pocketknife to check that it complies with the legislation:



                                            0”                                       1”                                              2”                           3”


                                                               The text quoted on this card is from the Criminal Justice Act 1988
                                                            and can be checked for veracity (or for any changes to the law) online at:
                                                 http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/content.aspx?LegType=All+Prim
                                                 ary&PageNumber=1&Year=1988&NavFrom=2&parentActiveTextDocId
                                                       =2116646&ActiveTextDocId=2116820&filesize=4465
                                                       Please type the above URL into your web browser as one line of text, there are no spaces.
                                                                                  This card design was Last Updated on the 29th of July 2008




This PDF was last updated on 29th July 2008 to reflect changes to Section 139 of the Criminal Justice Act (1988) shown online at:

http://www.statutelaw.gov.uk/content.aspx?LegType=All+Primary&PageNumber=1&Year=1988&NavFrom=2&parentActiveTextDocId=2116646&ActiveTextDocId=2116820&filesize=4465