Attorney General v Woods

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judgment Date: 01 January 1940
• Date: 01 January 1940
• Court: Circuit Court

(Cir. Ct.),

Attorney-General

and

Woods

- Acquittal of manslaughter -Subsequent charge of driving vehicle with mechanical defects - Road Traffic Act, 1933, s. 52 - Autrefois acquit.

The plea of autrefois acquit is not available to a person charged under s. 52 of the Road Traffic Act, 1933, and who has already been acquitted on a charge of manslaughter founded on the same facts. The test is not whether the evidence to support both charges is the same, but whether the same degree of negligence is necessary to constitute both offences.