Report No. 60
Chapter 14
Offences under Several Enactments
14.1. Section 26.-
In this Chapter we deal with acts or omissions constituting offences under enactments, a matter dealt with in section 26 of the Act, which reads as follows:-
"26. Where an act or omission constitutes an offence under two or more enactments, then the offender shall be liable to be prosecuted and punished under either or any of these enactments, but shall not be liable to be punished twice for the same offence.
The latter part of the section is important, concerned as it is with several interesting doctrines of criminal jurisprudence, including, in particular, autrefois convict and autrefois acquit and the protection against double jeopardy. The protection against double jeopardy is recognised in our Constitution1, in Article 20(2), which reads as follows:-
"No person shall be prosecuted and punished for the same offence more than once."
1. Article 20(2).