One transaction rule
In Australian law, the one transaction rule or single transaction principle is that when two or more offences are committed in the course of a single act, all sentences should be concurrent rather than consecutive.
Despite its imprecise nature, the one transaction rule is a long-standing sentencing principle recognised in Australia as a 'good working rule': Ruane v The Queen (1979) 1 A Crim R 284, 286, cited in R v White [2002] WASCA 112, [15]; see also Dickens v The Queen [2004] WASCA 179.
References
[edit]- DA Thomas, Principles of Sentencing (2nd ed, 1979) 53