Report No. 60
14.8. Acts constituting distinct offences by reason of difference in ingredients.-
The second situation1 is where acts made penal by two or more statutory provisions ("enactments") constitute really distinct offences. Some of the ingredients are common, but they are not altogether identical2. The offences being distinct, it is logical to permit separate punishments. At the same time, to avoid oppressiveness3, the aggregate of such punishments should not exceed the maximum prescribed for the most serious of the offences of which the offender is convicted. If a provision could be framed on the above lines, it would be just in its substance, and more clear in its form than the present section. We shall make our recommendation on this basis at the appropriate place4. But we would like to explain in some detail the significance of the two situations referred to above.
1. See 42nd Report, p. 76, para. 3.73, and also p. 422, proposed section 36.
2. See illustrative case in para. 14.10, infra.
3. See in particular, para. 14.12, infra.
4. Para. 14.18, infra.
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