Theft

• Appropriation- You assume the rights of an owner; you do something that only the owner can do e.g. eating, taking, destroying. Morris
• Appropriation by keeping or dealing- Where D has come by property innocently or not though without stealing it but later assumes a right to it by keeping or dealing with it as the owner
• Property(S4)- S4 states what can and cannot be stolen. It includes everything except land, electricity and confidential info. S4(3)- deals with things growing wild e.g. blackberries, mushrooms. You can pick them for personal use but its illegal to use them for commercial purposes.
• Body parts can be stolen and are property Kelly & Lindsay
• Things in Action- intangible things can also be stolen; bank accounts, shares, copyrights
• Confidential info- Oxford v Moss
• Belonging to another (S5)- Covers possession, ownership & Control. D can steal from one who possesses and owns it but, D can also steal property which is in one's control at the time Turner, Rostron & Collinson. S5(3)-D is convicted of theft where he has legal ownership over something but hasnt used it in a particular way. (for a particular purpose) Davidge & Bunnett
• Property obtained by mistake S5(4)- If property is obtained by mistake there is an obligation to make restoration. Att Gen Ref
• Ownerless property- a person cannot steal property that is not owned by anyone at the time of the appropriation. Its insufficient that property is lost; it must have been abandoned. Its not enough that D has no further use for the property. Ricketts
• Proprietry Interest- Webster
• Dishonesty S2- You are not dishonest if: You cannot trace the owner, the owner would have consented, and you have a legal right to deprive the owner of it.( THE CONIVING LYING RAT)
• If you believe that the owner can be found, you must take reasonable steps to try and find the owner. Small
• If you dont fit the situations above, you may still not be dishonest. This is a question for the jury and is based on the Ivey & Barton test: They must decide whether according to the ordinary standards of reasonable and honest people, whether what was done was dishonest. No- end of matter Yes- you are dishonest Barton & Booth
• Intention to permanently Deprive S6- Stealing requires an intention to permanently deprive. The intent must be present at the time of the appropriation. Jury determines this from evidence.
• Where D takes money and intends to replace it later, its argued that its theft as he put back different notes/coins thatn the ones he took. Velumyl
• s6(1)- deals with situations where the intention to treat the thing as is own to dispose of regardless of the other's rights. Cahill
• Regardless of the other's rights- it is sufficient if D intends to "treat the thing as his own to disposeof regardless of the other's rights"
• Borrowing or lending- borrowing or lending of the thing may amount to treating the thing as his own to dispose of regardless of the other's rights if, the borrowing/lending is for a period & in the circumstances, making it equivalent to an outright taking or disposal
• it is not theft if D merely borrows property from V
• There may be situations where D borrows property from V with the intent to return it to V and could still be liable for theft for an outright taking or disposal e.g taking a football season ticket an returning it with nothing on it
• However the "thing" can be sometimes returned in a change state so it can be said that it has lost its "goodness and virtue" Lloyd