Standard scale
scale maximum fines are set against in Commonwealth law
The standard scale is a system in Commonwealth law whereby financial criminal penalties (fines) in legislation have maximum levels set against a standard scale. Then, when inflation makes it necessary to increase the levels of the fines the legislators need to modify only the scale rather than every individual piece of legislation.
In English law, the reference in legislation will typically appear as:
... liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or a fine not exceeding level 4 on the standard scale, or both.
Legislation and level of fines
Australia
In Australia, the monetary fines for a breach of law is determined by however many penalty units the offence is worth, times the value of that jurisdiction's penalty unit. All states and territories set their own penalty unit values, which is supplemented by the federal penalty unit for federal offences.
Channel Islands
Guernsey
Guernsey uses the UK standard scale for adopted UK legislation, and its own scale (called the uniform scale) for legislation originating in the States of Guernsey.
Guernsey's dependencies of Alderney and Sark have their own distinct scales, although these are generally in line with the Guernsey scale.
The Uniform Scale of Fines (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law 1989
Criminal Justice Act 1982 (Guernsey) Order 1992
Alderney
The Uniform Scale of Fines (Alderney) Law 1989 as amended by The Uniform Scale of Fines (Alderney) (Amendment) Ordinance 2007.
Sark
Sark has its own standard scale, which is normally maintained at the same levels as Guernsey's.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Standard scale” as scale maximum fines are set against in Commonwealth law. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 4, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7598375. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1989, 1982, 1992 and 2007.
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This entry incorporates text from “Standard scale” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.