Theft

• 2. Under S.3 appropriation, means that D only has to assume one of the owner’s rights: MORRIS
• WHAT IS THEFT and Actus Reus?

  1. 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.
• 3. The rights of an owner include:

  • the right of possession
  • the right to dispose of property
• 4. 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.
• 5. There can be an appropriation even if the owner of the property consented to D taking it: GOMEZ.
• 6. An appropriation occurs as soon as one of the owner’s rights is assumed by D: GOMEZ. So, for the purposes of theft, an appropriation cannot be a continuous act but occurs at one point in time
• 7) Section 4 states that property includes money. Real property is the legal term for land and buildings.

  • Picking mushrooms, flowers, fruit 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
  • Personal property covers all moveable items
  • Wild creatures are not personal property unless they have been tamed or are ordinarily kept in captivity: s.4
• 8. Section 5, Property shall be regarded as belonging to any person having possession or control of it, or having in it any proprietary right or interest.
• 8. Section 5, Property shall be regarded as belonging to any person having possession or control of it, or having in it any proprietary right or interest.

  • Under s.5(3) where property (usually money) 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.
• Property


  Belonging to any person having possession or control of it, or having in it any proprietary right or interest
• Property handed over to D by V


  1. There is a legal obligation on D to keep it or deal with it in a particular way

  2. It is still considered as belonging to V
• D receives property by mistake


  1. There is a legal obligation to give it back

  2. It still belongs to another
• Property does not belong to another where it has been abandoned
• Abandoned property


  V is indifferent as to any future appropriation of the property by others
• Mens Rea of Theft:

  1. The 1968 Act does give three situations which are not dishonest. These are where D appropriates the property in the belief:

  • 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); or
  • he would have the other’s consent if the other knew of the appropriation and the circumstances of it - s.2(1)(b); or
  • the person to whom the property belongs cannot be discovered by taking reasonable steps - s.2(1)(c).
• Mens Rea of Theft:

  2. If s.2 does not apply, the test for dishonesty from the civil case of IVEY is used: bearing in mind what D knew or believed the facts to be, was D’s conduct dishonest by the standards of ordinary decent people?
• Mens Rea of theft


  At the moment D appropriated the property, he had the intention of permanently depriving the other of it
• Under s.6


  D will be regarded as having an intention to permanently deprive where, although he does not mean V to permanently lose the property itself, D does have the intention to treat it as his own to dispose of regardless of V's rights
• Borrowing property


  • Normally not theft
  • Can be theft under s.6 where it is in circumstances equivalent to an outright taking or disposal
• Where D picks up property

  • Intending to take it if it is worth stealing, but decides it is not worth stealing and returns it
  • His conditional intention to permanently deprive is not sufficient for the mens rea of theft