Res Judicata and Double Jeopardy

Book excerpt: The law of res judicata deals with all of the circumstances in which parties are barred from litigating an issue because of the result of previous litigation. It pervades many areas of the law, both civil and criminal. In the area of criminal law, double jeopardy and res judicata both play a role. Double jeopardy is concerned with how many times the State can prosecute someone in respect of the same offence in an attempt to convict them. Res judicata is concerned with the extent to which the result of civil proceedings is binding on criminal proceedings and vice versa. There has been a rise of interest in res judicata in recent years and it is now one of the most rapidly expanding areas of Irish law.