Minors drinking in own home
Submitted by Dannyboy11 on Mon, 29/03/2010 - 23:28
Can you tell me where the law stands on this please....
A group of teenagers all 16/17 having a 'get together' at a home as parents are away. Drinking alcohol will be involved. One of the friends is 18, although he himself is drinking.
Now say the worst thing happened, and the police came for whatever reason, what could happen? I've read on the internet that you can drink on private property if you're over the age of 5 and a responsible adult is there. Now with the 'adult' drinking also does that change things?
Information just for general knowledge would be appreciated :)
Sorry for the delay on this
Sorry for the delay on this one.
This question is not quite as simple as it seems.
I am still working on this.
Broadly speaking nobody can
Broadly speaking nobody can administer alcohol to any child under 5 years of age. Other than that, the law deals with the sale etc of alcohol by regulating its sale (to people under 18, for example). So, a party on private premises would not, as such, fall foul of the law. There may be other issues such as Nuisance that may arise, or the commission of other criminal offences which might involve any police activity, and there might also be questions raised as to how the youths actually acquired their alcohol.
I qualified in 1979 and by 1980 was specialising in criminal work and other areas of litigation I became a partner of Sarginsons in 1983. The firm converted to an LDP in April 2009 and is now Sarginson Law LLP.