Theft

• What is theft?

  A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it: s.1 of the THEFT ACT 1968
• What is appropriation?

  Appropriation means that D only has to assume one of the owners rights: MORRIS
• What are some of the rights of an owner?

  Rights of the owner:

  • Right of possession
  • Right to sell property
  • Right to destroy property
  • Right to dispose of property
• What are the other types of appropriation?

  Other types:

  1. According to s.3, if property is acquired innocently, it can be appropriated later by D keeping it or dealing with it as if they were the owner.
  2. There can be an appropriation even if the owner of the property consented to D taking it: GOMEZ
  3. There can be an appropriation even if the owner of the property has made a legal gift of it to D: HINKS
  4. An appropriation occurs as soon as one of the owners rights is assumed by D: GOMEZ. An appropriation cannot be a continuous act
• What is property?

  Section 4 states that property includes money. (coins and banknotes)

  Real property, personal property, a thing in action, intangible property
• What is real property?

  Real property is the legal term for land, plants and buildings.

  Real property can only be stolen under s.4 if:

  1. D severs something from the land
  2. D is a tenant and removes something which is considered a fixture or structure of the rented accomodation (such as a fixed kitchen cupboard)
• When is picking plants from someones land theft?

  Picking mushrooms, flowers, fruits or foliage growing wild on land which belongs to another is theft of property if it is taken for sale or reward or other commercial purpose: s.4
• What is personal property?

  Personable property is any movable item
• Are animals personal property?

  Wild creatures are not personal property unless they have been tamed or are ordinarily kept in captivity: s.4
• Is electricity property?

  Electricity is not property, nor is electronically stored information. In OXFORD v MOSS, knowledge of the questions on an examination paper was held not to be property under s.4
• When does property belong to someone?

  Under section 5, property belongs to any person having possession or control of it or having in it any proprietary right or interest.

  It is possible to steal your own property if it is under someone else's possession or control: TURNER

  Under s.5 where property is handed over to D by V and there is a legal obligation on D to keep it or deal with it in a particular way, it is still considered as belonging to V.

  Under s.5, where D recieves property by mistake and there is a legal obligation to give it back, then it still belongs to another
• What is the law on abandonment?

  Property does not belong to another where it has been abandoned. This means that D is indifferent as to any future appropriation of the property by others. The mor evaluable the property, the less likely it is abandoned. It is not enough that V has lost the property and given up looking for it
• What does dishonestly mean?

  Under s.1 D can be dishonest even if he appropriates the property without a view to gain (e.g. if D destroys property he does not gain)

  Under s.2 an appropriation of property may be dishonest even though D is willing to pay for the property
• What are the three situations that are not dishonest?

  The 1968 act gives three situations which a not dishonest. These are where D appropriates the property in the belief:

  1. that he has in law the right to deprive the other of it, on behalf of himself or of a third person: s.2(1)(a)
  2. he would have the other's consent if the other knew of the appropriation and the circumstances of it: s.2(1)(b)
  3. the person to whom the property belongs cannot be discovered by taking reasonable steps: s.2(1)(c) - note that D does not have to take the reasonable steps