AUTREFOIS ACQUIT (Fr. formerly acquitted).
In Criminal Pleading. A plea made by a defendant indicted for a crime or misde meanor, that he has formerly been tried and acquitted of the same offence.
To be a bar, the acquittal must have been on trial, 5 Rand. Va. 669. 11 N. II. 156 ; 4 Blackf. Ind. 156 ; 6 Mo. 645 ; 5 Harr. Del. 488 ; 14 Tex. 260 ; see 1 Ilayw. No. C. 241; 14 Ohio, 295, and by verdict of a jury on a valid indictment. 4 Blackstone, Comm. 335; 1 Johns. N. Y. 66 ; 1 Va. Cas. 312 ; 6 Ala. 341 ; 4 Mo. 376 ; 26 Penn. St. 513 ; 6 Md. 400.
There must be an acquittal of the offence charged in law and in fact, 1 Va. Cas. 188, 288 ; 5 Rand. Va. 669 ; 13 Mass. 457 •, 2 id. 172 ; 29 Penn. St. 323 ; 6 Cal. 543 hut an acquittal is conclusive. 6 llumphr. Tenn. 410; 3 Cush. Mass. 212; 16 Conn. 54 ; 7 Ga. 422 ' • 8 Blackf. Ind. 533 ; 3 Brev. No. C. 421; 6 Mo. 644 ; 7 Ark. 169 ; 1 Bail. So. C. 651 ; 2 IIalst. N. J. 172; 11 Miss. 751 ; 3 Tex. 118 ; 1 Den. N. Y. 207. See 1 N. H. 257.
The constitution of the United States, Amend. art. 5, provides that no person shall be subject for the same offence to be put twice in jeopardy of life or limb. As to whether this means more than the common law provision, see 5 How. 410; 9 Wheat. 579 ; 2 Gall. C. C. 364 ; 2 Sumn. C. C. 19 ; 2 McLean, C. C. 114 ; 4 Wash. C. C. 408 ; 9 Mass. 494; 2 Pick. Mass. 521 ; 2 Johns.
Cas. N. Y. 301 ; 18.Johns. N. Y. 187 ; 5 Litt, Ky. 240; 1 Miss. 184 ; 4 Ila1st. N. J. 256.
See 6 Serg. & R. Penn. 577 ' • 1 Ilayw. No. C. 241 ; 13 Yerg. Tenn. 532; 16 Ala. 188 ; Wharton, Crim. Law, 205-215.
The plea must set out the former record, and show the identity of the offence and of the person by proper averments. IIawkins, Pl. Cr. b. 2, c. 36 ; 1 Chitty, Crim. Law, 462; 16 Ark. 568 ' • 24 Conn. 57 ; 6 Dan. Ky. 295 ; 5 Rand. Va. 669 ; 17 Pick. Mass. 400.
The true test by which the question whether a plea of autrefois acquit or autre fois convict is a sufficient bar in any par ticular case may be tried is, whether the evidence necessary to support the second indictment would have been sufficient to pro cure a legal conviction upon the first. 2 Leach, Cr. Cas. 4th ed. 708 ; 1 Brod. & B. 473 ; 3 Barnew. & C. 502 ; 2 Conn. 54; 12 Pick. Mass. 504 ; 13 La. Ann. 243. Thus, if a prisoner indicted for burglariously breaking and entering a house and stealing therein certain goods of A is acquitted, he cannot plead this acquittal in bar of a subsequent indictment for burglariously breaking and entering the same house and stealing other goods of B. Per Buller, J., Leach, Cr. Cas. 4th ed. 718, 719.
The plea in the celebrated case of Regina v. Bird, 5 Cox, Cr. Cas. 12 ; Templ. & M. Cr. Cas. 438 ; 2 Den. Cr. Cas. 224, is of peculiar value as a precedent. See Train & II. Prec. Ind. 481.