Pearce v R [1998] HCA 57 | 10 September 1998

ON 10 SEPTEMBER 1998, the High Court of Australia delivered Pearce v R [1998] HCA 57; 194 CLR 610; 156 ALR 684; 72 ALJR 1416 (10 September 1998).

Where more than one offence contains the same elements of conduct, an offender should not be punished more than once for the overlapping elements. The punishment should reflect what the offender has done and should not be affected by how the offence is expressed: at [40].

There is no single correct sentence for a particular offence to be applied with mathematical precision. It is important for proper principle to be applied: at [46].