Autrefois acquit & autrefois convict

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Autrefois convict and Autrefois acquit are expressions derived from medieval French law.  The expression is used to describe the plea of a person charged with a criminal offence stating that the court should stay the proceedings on the ground that they have already been tried & found not guilty in respect of the same facts or conduct. Criminal solicitors london and East Ham can advise fully.

The Criminal Justice Act 2003 (Part 10) reformed the law relating to double jeopardy, by allowing retrials in respect of a limited number of very serious offences.  Where new and compelling evidence comes to light, a person can be retried for the same offence.  Autrefois Acquit is therefore still available to a defendant. 

The leading case in this field is Connelly v DPP [1964] A.C. 1254.  Lord Morris established 9 principles, the most important being:

1.  a man cannot be tried for a crime in respect of which he has previously been acquitted or convicted
2. a man cannot be tried for a crime in respect of which he could on some previous indictment have been convicted
3. the same rule applies if the crime in respect of which he is being charged is in
4. effect the same, or is substantially the same, as either the principal or a different crime in respect of which he has been acquitted or could have been convicted or has been convicted.
5. what has to be considered is whether the crime or offence charged in the later
6. indictment is the same or is in effect or is substantially the same as the crime charged (or in respect of which there could have been a conviction) in a former indictment and that it is immaterial that the facts under examination or the witnesses being called in the later proceedings are the same as those in some earlier proceedings
7. apart from circumstances under which there may be a plea of autrefois acquit, a man may be able to show that a matter has been decided by a court competent to decide it, so that the principle of res judicata applies;

His judgement is clear:

" It matters not that incidents and occasions being examined on the trial of the second

indictment are precisely the same as those which were examined on the trial of the first.

The court is concerned with charges of offences or crimes. The test is, therefore,

whether such proof as is necessary to convict of the second offence would establish

guilt of the first offence or of an offence for which on the first charge there could be a

conviction."

It should be noted that over the years, the doctrine has been narrowed by subsequent judgements and eroded in the case of those circumstances where double jeopardy has been abolished.

The principle of autrefois convict & Autrefois acquit are applicable only where there has been a finding by a court of guilt or innocence. Therefore, cautions do not count.

The doctrines of autrefois acquit or autrefois convict have never applied in cases where a defendant is convicted of an assault, where the victim subsequently dies. A defendant can properly be tried for murder as the offence  charge of murder is neither the same in law, nor on the same facts as the assault.

Rv  Wangige [2020] EWCA Crim 1319

The doctrine of autrefois convict was upheld by the Court of Appeal in this case as  JOSEPH KARUMBA WANGIGE  (the appellant) had previously been prosecuted for a number of offences arising from the same accident, in which a person died 4 days after the accident.  

Following an investigation Mr Wangige was prosecuted for relatively minor offences and pleaded guilty in the Magistrates Court in June 2017.  

In July 2018, the charges were reviewed and "New" expert evidence was adduced.  This evidence was not obtained until after the original prosecution.  The Court of Appeal held that this did not amount to 'special circumstances' so as to justify a fresh set of proceedings and upheld the appeal.