The meaning of the word 'offence' seems plain enough. It has been suggested that it means not merely the offence as defined in the enactment which makes it a punishable illegality, but should be read as including all the circumstances and degree of culpability of the act or acts of which a person stands accused. The French text employs terms which have a strict legal meaning. Delit' means strictly a petty offence, while the term 'accusation' means strictly 'an indictable offence'. We can therefore deduct little from the use of these terms in the constitution except to infer that they are intended to express generally an infraction of the penal laws.
Similar considerations apply to the English text.
Since the circumstances and degree of culpability attaching to the acts done cannot be precisely ascertained until all the evidence has been heard, it seems to us that to extend the meaning of the term 'offence' beyond its normal legal meaning would in any case be impracticable. We have considered whether it might not be extended to include the particulars of the charge, but we can see little advantage in doing so, and no good reason in legal interpretation for so extending it. If the legislature had meant 'charge' it surely would have said so. We have already gone a long way to answering this question. However, it has again been suggested to us that this will depend on all the circumstances of its commission.