(1)Where a person is charged with an offence under any provision of this Act other than section forty-two, and it is not proved that he committed that offence but is proved that he committed any other such offence, being—
(a)an attempt to commit the offence charged; or
(b)an offence of the same class as the offence charged and not involving greater punishment,
he may be found not guilty of the offence charged but guilty of the said other offence.
(2)Where a person is charged with a civil offence under section forty-two of this Act and it is not proved that he committed that offence but is proved that he committed any other civil offence of which, if he had been tried by a civil court for committing the first-mentioned offence in England, he might have been found guilty, he may be convicted of an offence under the said section forty-two in respect of the commission of that other civil offence.
Textual Amendments applied to the whole legislation
F1Act repealed (prosp.) by Armed Forces Act 2006 (c. 52), ss. 378, 383, Sch. 17 and the repeal being partly in force, as to which see individual provisions