The appellant’s co-accused had been summarily tried and acquitted of common assault. The accused was subsequently indicted on the same facts for assault causing grievous bodily harm and assault causing actual bodily harm. The accused demurred.
Held: The demurrer was upheld, and the case could not proceed. By virtue of sections 28 and 29 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1828, a certificate of acquittal of common assault released the accused ‘. . we must bear in mind the well-established principle of our criminal law that a series of charges shall not be preferred, and, from all further or other proceedings, civil or criminal, for the same cause’. The plea of autrefois convict is that ‘whether a party accused of a minor offence is acquitted or convicted, he shall not be charged again on the same facts in a more aggravated form.’ The presumption in favour of a stay is even stronger where the second charge does not merely arise out of the same facts but is an aggravated form of the first.
Cockburn CJ
[1861] 1 B and S 688, 121 ER 170, [1861] EngR 901, (1861) 1 B and S 688, (1861) 121 ER 870
Commonlii
England and Wales
Cited by:
Cited – Regina v Beedie CACD 11-Mar-1997
Stay for Extended Autrefois Convict
The plea of autrefois convict applies only if the legal substance of the charges is same but the judge has a discretion. The plea is not limited to Connelly v DPP definitions, but is still narrow.
A 19-year-old girl died of carbon monoxide . .
Approved – Connelly v Director of Public Prosecutions HL 1964
Plea of Autrefois Acquit is Narrow in Scope
The defendant had been tried for and acquitted of murder. The prosecution then sought to have him tried for robbery out of the same alleged facts. The House considered his plea of autrefois convict.
Held: The majority identified a narrow . .
Approved – Regina v Miles 1890
. .
Cited – Phipps, Regina v CACD 14-Jan-2005
The appellant had been convicted of driving with excess alcohol. After complaints by the injured victim’s family he was further prosecuted for dangerous driving. He now appealed his conviction, having pleaded guilty when the judge failed to find an . .
Explained – LSA, Regina v CACD 16-May-2008
(Courts-Martial Appeals Court) The defendant had faced road traffic offence charges, but the court had discharged the case using the Forest of Dean case. The prosecutor sought to appeal but failed to give the undertaking with regard to taking no . .
Cited – Wangige, Regina v CACD 14-Oct-2020
Second Prosecution on Same Facts was An Abuse
The defendant appealed his conviction of causing death by dangerous driving. He appealed from the refusal of the judge to give a stay the prosecution as an abuse He had been previously prosecuted for a lesser offence on the same facts.
Held: . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Criminal Practice
Updated: 08 January 2022; Ref: scu.180639