Armed Forces Discipline Act 1971

Jurisdiction

22: Persons cannot be tried under this Act for offences already disposed of

You could also call this:

"You can't be tried twice for the same offence under this Act."

Illustration for Armed Forces Discipline Act 1971

If you have already been charged with an offence under this Act and the charge was dismissed, or you were found not guilty or guilty, you cannot be tried again for the same offence. This also applies if you were found not guilty or guilty by the Court Martial, or if the Court Martial took another offence into consideration when sentencing you. You also cannot be tried again if the proceedings against you were stopped under section 101H, or if you were found unfit to stand trial and the proceedings were stopped. If you were already dealt with for an offence, you cannot be charged again with the same offence under this Act. This means the Court Martial or a disciplinary officer cannot try you again for the same offence. If you were found guilty of an offence and the decision was later overturned on appeal, you are considered to have been found not guilty, unless a new trial was ordered. You are also not considered to have had another offence taken into consideration if the sentence was later overturned or the decision to take the offence into consideration was annulled.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM402376.

This page was last updated on 1 January 2026 — View changes

Topics:

Crime and justice > Courts and legal helpCrime and justice > Criminal law

21: Person may not be tried under this Act and under the civil law in respect of same act or omission, or

"You can't be tried twice for the same mistake under different laws."

23: Aiding the enemy, or

"Helping the Enemy is Against the Law"

Part 1Jurisdiction

22Persons cannot be tried under this Act for offences already disposed of

This section applies if—
a person has been charged with having committed an offence against this Act and the charge was, on investigation, dismissed, or he or she was acquitted or found guilty of the offence by a disciplinary officer; or
a person has been acquitted or convicted of an offence by the Court Martial; or
a person has had an offence taken into consideration by the Court Martial in sentencing him or her for another offence; or
the proceedings against a person who was charged with having committed an offence against this Act have been stayed under section 101H; or
a person who was charged with having committed an offence against this Act has been found to be unfit to stand trial and the proceedings against that person in the course of which the finding was made have been stayed.

A subsequent charge alleging that the person committed the offence disposed of in the manner referred to in subsection (1) must not be tried by the Court Martial or tried summarily, or otherwise dealt with, under Part 5.
For the purposes of this section,—
if a person was convicted of an offence by the Court Martial or found guilty of an offence by a disciplinary officer and the conviction or finding was quashed on appeal, he or she is deemed to have been acquitted of the offence by the Court Martial or the disciplinary officer, unless a new trial of the charge of having committed that offence was ordered by an appellate court:
a person must not be regarded as having had another offence taken into consideration if the sentence passed on him or her is subsequently quashed, or if the decision to take the offence into consideration has been annulled, by an appellate court.

Notes

Section 22: substituted, on 1 July 2009, by section 14 of the Armed Forces Discipline Amendment Act (No 2) 2007 (2007 No 98).