New South Wales Consolidated Acts

SHERIFF ACT 2005 - SECT 11

11 Use of word “sheriff” in operating name

(1) A person who carries on any activity under an operating name that includes the word “sheriff” is guilty of an offence.

: Maximum penalty-100 penalty units.

(2) If an activity is carried on in contravention of subsection (1) in the name of a firm (that is, a partnership or other unincorporated body of persons), any person who is a member of the governing body of the firm is guilty of an offence under that subsection if the person knowingly authorised or permitted the contravention.

(3) This section does not prevent a person or body of persons from doing anything in accordance with the terms of a consent in force under section 12.

(4) This section does not apply to any body or class of bodies that is declared by the regulations to be a body or class of bodies to which this section does not apply.

(5) In this section,
"operating name" includes any name, style, title or designation under which a person or body carries on an activity, any name under which an association is incorporated under the Associations Incorporation Act 2009 and any business name registered under the Business Names Registration Act 2011 of the Commonwealth in relation to a person, but does not include-

(a) in the case of an individual, the individual’s family name, either alone or together with-

(i) one or more of the individual’s given names, or

(ii) one or more of the initials of the individual’s given names, or

(iii) a combination of one or more of the individual’s given names and one or more of the initials of the individual’s remaining given names, or

(b) in the case of a corporation, the corporation’s corporate name, or

(c) in the case of an industrial organisation registered under the Industrial Relations Act 1996 , the name under which the industrial organisation is registered, or

(d) in the case of any other statutory body, the name under which the body is incorporated, constituted or established.

(6) The provisions of this section and section 12 are intended to operate as referred to in sections 12 (2) (b) and (e), 19 (5) and 20 (3) of the Business Names Registration Act 2011 of the Commonwealth.

Note-: Section 12 (2) (b) and (e) of the Business Names Registration Act 2011 of the Commonwealth (the
"Commonwealth Act" ) provide that the business names legislation referred to in that section is not intended to exclude or limit the concurrent operation of a law of a State that-

(a) prohibits or restricts the use of a word or expression by an entity or class of entities, or

(b) imposes obligations on an entity or class of entities that are in addition to obligations imposed under that Act.

Sections 19 (5) and 20 (3) of the Commonwealth Act also provide that an entity does not commit an offence under those sections concerning the inclusion or display of registered business names in written communications and at places of business if the inclusion, use or display of a business name in such a communication or at such a place would be contrary to a law of a State.