law - theft

• Theft


  • Conduct crime
  • Property offence
  • Don't need to prove causation
• Theft Act 1968


  Defines theft
• 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
• Elements of theft


  • Appropriation
  • Property
  • Belonging to another
  • Intention of permanently depriving
• Sections of Theft Act 1968


  • S1 - Definition
  • S2 - Dishonestly
  • S3 - Appropriation
  • S4 - Property
  • S5 - Belonging to another
  • S6 - Permanently depriving
  • S7 - Sentence
• Appropriation


  • Assuming any rights of the owner
  • Taking property away
  • Treating it as your own
  • Destroying property
  • Selling property
• Cases on appropriation


  • R v Morris 1984
  • Lawrence v MPC 1971
  • R v Gomez 1993
  • R v Hinks 2000
• Theft Act 1968 covers theft
• S1 states: A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it
• S3 defines appropriation as assuming any rights of the owner
• Ways appropriation can occur


  • Taking property away
  • Treating it as your own
  • Destroying property
  • Selling property
• Gomez and Hinks


  • Gomez - consent by false representation
  • Hinks - accepting a gift can be appropriation
• Property


  Includes real money and all other property, real or personal, including things in action and all other intangible property
• Land cannot be property in terms of theft, unless: someone severs part of the land, a tenant takes fixtures and fittings, or someone legally entrusted to the land itself and uses it for their own purpose
• Billing v Pill (1951) - land can only be severed if part of the land
• Types of money that are property

  • Bank notes and coins - physical money
  • Cheques - the paper is the property not the value
  • Credit and debit cards - plastic
• S4 covers property
• Things that are property according to Theft Act


  • Money
  • Intangible property
  • Real or personal property
  • Things in action
  • All other property
• Things that are not property according to Theft Act


  • Body parts
  • Wild animals
  • Dead bodies
  • Wild plants
• Electricity is not property in theft
• Information or knowledge is not property - Oxford v Moss
• Belonging to another


  • Possession and control of property
  • Proprietary right or interest in property
• Cases on belonging to another

  • Webster 2006
  • R v Turner 1971
  • Williams v Philips 1975
• S5 3 - Property received under an obligation


  Where a person receives property from another, and is under obligation to the other to retain and deal with that property in a particular way, the property shall be regarded as belonging to another
• Cases on property received under an obligation

  • Davidge v Burnett
• S5 4 - Property received by a mistake


  Where a person gets property by another's mistake, and is under an obligation to restore the property then not to return that property may be theft
• Cases on property obtained by mistake


  • A-G's reference (no1 of 1983)
• Mens rea


  Dishonesty, intention to permanently deprive
• It is not dishonest if the defendant believes that he: has a lawful right to deprive the other of it, the other would have consented to the appropriation, or the person to whom the property belongs cannot be discovered by taking reasonable steps
• Ghosh test


  Defines what is dishonest, reasonable man test
• Intention to permanently deprive


  Treating the property as your own regardless of the rights of the owner - R v Velumyl 1989
• Borrowing - can be intent to permanently deprive when the 'value, goodness or virtue' has gone out of the property - R v Lloyd 1985
• Conditional intent - burglary not theft, only going to take something if there is something worth taking: R v Easom 1971
• Ghosh test has been confirmed and precedented by Booth, with Ivey removing the subjective part
• The Ghosh test is: 1) Would ordinary, honest, and reasonable people regard the actions of D as dishonest 2) Does D realise that others would regard their actions as dishonest