Legal Dictionary of Pakistan

lesser included offense

A crime that is composed of some, but not all, of the elements of a more serious crime and that is necessarily committed in carrying out the greater crime <battery is a lesser included offense of murder>. ( For double jeopardy purposes, a lesser included offense is considered the "same offense" as the greater offense, so that acquittal or conviction of either offense precludes a separate trial for the other. - Also termed included offense; necessarily included offense. Cf. cognate offense.