Where a single course of driving causes death to one victim and endangers the life of other victims, the offender may be convicted and separately punished for offences against each victim without infringing s 51(1) of the Interpretation of Legislation Act 1984 (Vic) or the common law doctrine of double jeopardy. The 'acts or omissions' constituting each offence necessarily include the consequences flowing to the respective victims, so offences involving different victims are not constituted by the 'same act or omission'. The protection against double punishment in s 51(1) is wider than its predecessor in s 28 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1958 (Vic), focusing on the 'act or omission' rather than the 'offence', but does not extend to cases where a single action harms multiple persons.
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