Where the punishment for any offence under this Act depends upon the intent with which or the circumstances in which the offender acts, and any person is charged with committing that offence with an intent or in circumstances involving the higher degree of punishment, he may be found guilty of committing that offence without that intent, or in circumstances involving the lower degree of punishment, as the case may be.
(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.
It is hereby declared that a person charged under this Act with an attempt to commit any offence may be convicted notwithstanding proof that he actually committed that offence.