united-kingdom civil-law
Falsely admitting to breaking a civil injunction
<p>So say somebody asked Bob if he'd broken a civil injunction, which Bob hadn't, but Bob admitted to having broken that injunction. Bob was taken to court, but it quickly became apparent Bob could not have committed the crime, because he had an undisputable alibi. </p>

<p>(Bob is any person.)</p>

<p>Is these a feasible situation? Could Bob be charged with wasting someone's time or something? I'm interested in this in the UK.</p>

<p>(Apologies if the style of this question is innapropriate, I'm not really sure how things work round here:) )</p>

<p>We don't have enough facts to know.</p>

<p>What Bob said about having violated the injunction, which could expose him to criminal contempt of court liability, was not true.</p>

<p>But, the precise details of what he said, to whom he said it, and his relationship to the case, are not clear. Saying something that isn't true isn't always against the law, and even when it is against the law, the consequences depend upon the context.</p>

<ol>
<li><p>An intentionally false statement of fact to a police officer or to the court under oath would probably be a crime (but, unlike U.S. practice, criminal defendants who testify are not generally required to testify under oath).</p></li>
<li><p>An unintentionally false statement of fact to the same persons (e.g. because Bob misheard the question or was drunk at the time and assumed that the statement of fact he was making was true or had dementia) would probably not have legal consequences for him.</p></li>
<li><p>A mere confession - I am guilty of violating the civil injunction - would probably not be perjury or fraud because guilt of a civil injunction includes opinions and legal conclusions which are not actionable, as well as implied statements of fact, which might be actionable. But, if he confessed in the form of a plea, there probably wouldn't have been a trial at all. Once he made his plea, his factual guilty or innocence might be irrelevant in the face of a judicial admission.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>Courts can sometimes sanction parties to lawsuits for wasting everyone's time under quite specific circumstances, but we don't know precisely what relationship Bob has to the case in which the injunction was entered.</p>
