autrefois convict

Autrefois convict (formerly convicted) is a plea in bar that a person who has already been convicted for an offence cannot be prosecuted and punished again for the same offence. In India it has constitutional status under Article 20(2): no person shall be prosecuted and punished for the same offence more than once.

The protection applies only where the earlier proceeding was a prosecution before a court or judicial tribunal and resulted in punishment, and where the offences are the same in their ingredients, not merely arising from the same facts. A separate offence with different ingredients may be tried even if the facts overlap. It is also covered by s.337 BNSS and s.26 of the General Clauses Act.

Example

Since the accused had already been convicted and fined for the same act of rash driving, his plea of autrefois convict under Article 20(2) barred the second prosecution.

In Indian law

• Article 20(2), Constitution of India
• Section 337, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (old s.300 CrPC)
• Section 26, General Clauses Act, 1897

See also

autrefois acquit · double jeopardy · conviction

Read more in the study notes

• Bail, anticipatory bail and bonds (Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita)
• Punishments under the BNS, including community service (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita)
• Relevance of judgments of courts (sections 34 to 38) (Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam)
• Article 20: rights of the accused (Constitutional Law I)
• Prospective and retrospective operation of statutes (Interpretation of Statutes and Principles of Legislation)
• Reform of justice delivery: legal aid, Lok Adalats, ADR, Gram Nyayalayas, PIL and plea bargaining (Law and Social Transformation in India)