Theft

what act is the law of theft set out in?

Theft act 1968

what type of offence is theft?

either way

what is the maximum sentence of imprisonment for theft?

7 years

what is the definition of 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; and ‘thief’ and ‘steal’ be construed accordingly”

what are the three elements of the acts reus?

* appropriation
* property
* belonging to another

what are the mens rea elements?

* dishonesty
* intention to permanently deprive

when is a appropriation of property belonging to another not regarded as dishonest?

* have a legal right to deprive the other it
* would have the others consent had they known of the appropriation
* the person to whom the property belongs cannot be discovered by taking reasonable steps

what is are the cases for when they have a legal right to deprive the other?

Holden and Robinson

what is the case of \`Holden?

took scrap tyres from employer, following others; not theft

what is the case of Robinson?

secured a debt with force, again not theft if D had an honest belief the property was his

what is an case for when a person whom the property belongs cannot be discovered by taking reasonable steps?

Small

what happened in the case of small?

took an abandoned car, believing the owner could not be found: not theft

where is appropriation defined?

s.3(1) of the theft act 1968

what is the definition of appropriation?

any assumption by a person of the rights of an owner

what are examples of assumptions of rights of the owner?

touching, moving, selling, destroying

what are cases for appropriation of selling?

Pitham and Neil, Morris

what happens in R v Morris (1983)?

* the defendant assumption of any one right of the owner is sufficient to be an appropriation
* touching someones property is an appropriation not theft unless the other elements are present as well
* changing the price of an item in a supermarket to that s lower-priced item was considered to be an appropriation

what is are the cases for the appropriation with victims consent?

Lawrence v metropolitan police commissioner (1972) and R v Gomez (2012)

what happens in the case of Lawrence v metropolitan police commissioner (1972)?

* Italian student who spoke little English got into a taxi in London and gave the driver the address
* when it came to setting the 52p fare the Italian student £1 but the taxi driver insisted it wasn’t enough
* V opened his wallet and the taxi driver took another £6 with the victims permission

what happens in R v Gomez (2012)?

* D worked in an electrical goods shop
* D convinced the manger of the shop to sell £17,000 of goods to his accomplice
* goods were paid for using cheques known by Gomez to be useless
* Hol confirmed that an appropriation can take place with the owners consent

what case shows that appropriation is not a continuing act?

atakpu

what cases show that appropriation can occur when D accquires property without stealing it but keeps and deals with it as an owner?

• velumyl - money borrowed from a safe

• marshall - tickets taken and resold on london underground

what is the case of R v Hinks?

• d befriended a rich man of low intelligence

• she convinced him to withdraw £300 a day and put it in her bank account

• the £60,000 she recieved was appropriation - regardless of it being a gift

what is the result of hinks show?

that a recipent of a gift may be guilty of stealing it

what are the problems arising from Hinks?

1. may be theft but no stolen goods as the title of the property belongs to D

2. criminal law extends beyond civil law - not within the spirt of the theft act

what section of the theft act 1968 gives the defence to people who buy stolen goods in good faith?

s.3(2)

where is property defined?

s.4 of the theft act 1968

what is property?

money and all other property, real and personal

thngs in action

other intatigiable property

because the definition of property is so wide, what does this mean?

it includes property which is unlawful, illegal or prohibited

D can be guilty of stealing from V the drugs that V possess

what case shows that unlawful, illegal or prohibited property can be stolen?

smith 2011

how is intangiable property appropriated?

any assumption of any of the rights of an owner over it

what is an example of intangible property?

bank account

what is a bank account?

a thing in action - as it is a right to a payment by the bank of the sum of money it owes to the customer

what does it mean if D debits a customers account?

he appropriates the thing in action not the money

what is property that can not be stolen?

• land - civil remedies that deal with the situation

• wild mushrooms, picks flowers, fruit or foliage from a plant growing on wild land

• wild creature not tamed or kept in captivity

when is can wild mushrooms, flowers or fruit be stolen?

sale or commerical purpose - a person picking holly branches at christmas to sell to customers may be guilty of theft

when can a wild creature be stolen?

• possession by or on behalf of another person

• possession of it has not been lost or abandoned

• e.g a tiger can be stolen from a zoo

what two cases provide illustration of the definition of property?

• R v Kelly and Lindsay

• Oxford v Moss

what happened in R v Kelly?

• D (artisit) took body parts from suregons

• Body parts and corspses arent usally property but they had been preserved and disected - V had rights over this property

what happened in oxford v moss?

• student took an exam paper, read the question and then returned it

• not charged with theft of the information of the paper

• confidential information is not regarded as property

what happened in r v akbar?

a teacher was convicted of theft after she took exam papers and gave them to her students

is electricity property?

no

what does s.13 of the theft act say?

it is a crime to make dishonest use of, waste or divert it

what section is belonging to another in?

s.5

what is belonging to another?

property shall be regarded as belonging to any person having possession or control over it or having proprietary right or interest

what does r v Dyke and munro show?

• d collected money and kept money intended for a childrens cancer charity

• they were charged with stealing money from the public

• but they should of been charged with stealing th money from the charity - as the ownership of the money had been passed on to the charity when it had been put in the collection box

is property owned if it has been lost and the owner is no longer trying to find it?

yes

can ownerless property be stolen?

no

what has to be ensured about ownerless property?

completely abandoned before it is considered ownerless

what does r v rostron show?

• d retrieved golf balls from the lake

• convinction of theft was upheld

what case shows that you may be guilty of stealing your own property?

• d took his own car from a garage that had repaired it and didnt pay for the repairs

• guilty of theft as the garage had possession over the car - proprietary interest

what case shows that if v retains a proprietary interest in an item that d sells there is theft?

webster

what happened in webster?

retained interest in Ds medal who was guilty of theft when he tried to sell it

what case shows that you can be in control of property without knowing you possessed it?

r v woodman

what happened in r v woodman?

• d was convicted of stealing scrap metal from factory owners who did not know they were storing the metal

what is s.5(3) of the theft act?

that property that is recieved by d on the basis that d will deal with it in a particular way will still be consdiered as belonging to another

what case shows that property that is recieved under an obligation is belonging to another?

• Davidge v bunnett

• klineberg and marsden

what does davidge v bunnett show?

d is guilty of theft when she was given money by her flatmates to pay the gas bill but instead used the money to buy christmas presents

what does klinberg and marsden show?

ds timeshare business misused its customer funds and ds found guilty of theft

what contrasts klinberg and marsden?

hall

what happened in hall?

d a travel agent was not guilty of theft when he paid deposits into a general account as she was not under an obligation to act in a particular way

what is s.5(4) of the theft act?

property recieved by d on the basis of a mistake may be regarded as belonging to another

shows intention to deprive

and d makes no attempt to restore it to the owner

what case shows than an over paid employee by mistake would commit theft if she did not restore the amount?

A-G ref No 1 of 1983

what does gilks show?

d was overpaid my mistake by a bookmarker on a bet and he chose not to restore the money - would of been guilty by theft but for technicality was not found guilty

as tting transactions can not generally be enforced by the courts

what is the mens rea of theft?

• dishonest

• inetention to permanently deprive the owner of the property

what section of the theft act is dishonesty in?

s.2(1)

when is an appropriation of property belonging to another not dishonest?

• s.2(1a) - he or she has legal right to deprive another of it

• s.2(1b) - he or she would have the others consent had they known the appropriation

• s.2(1c) - the person to whom the property belongs cannot be discovered by taking reasonable steps

what case supports s.2(1c)?

R v small

what happened in r v small?

• d took a car that he thought was abandoned - car had been left in the same place for two weeks - unlocked doors, keys in ignition, flat battery, no petrol and flat battery

what case developed the two stage test for dishonesty?

r v ghosh

what is the ghosh test?

• has d been dishonest by the ordinary standards of reasonable and honest people?

• if yes has d realised that he or she was dishonest by those standards?

what is the common law test in ivey v genting casinos?

1. the defendants knowldege or belief as to the facts

2. whether that was dishonest according to the standards of ordinary decent people

which test is now the test for dishonesty?

ivey v genting casinos - confirmed in r v barron and booth

what does ivey v genting casinos remove from the ghosh test?

subjective limb

what happened in ivey v genting casinos?

• ivey involved the defendant using a card technique to give him an advantage whilst gambing and in breach of gaming contract - it implied a term that he would not cheat

• he won repeatedly and sued when casino refused to pay

• second part of ghosh test was no longer good law

what does s.2(2) of the theft act 1968 say?

the defendants willingness to pay does not mean that he or she was not dishonest

what section of the theft act is inetntion to permanently deprived defined in?

s.6(1)

when will someone be regarded as intention to permanently deprive the owner of its property?

intends to treat the thing as his own to dispose of regardless of the others rights

borrowing or lending situation may amount to intention if the period and the cricumstances make it equivalent to an outright taking or disposal

what does r v velumyl show?

• a company director took money from the safe with intention of paying it back

• guilty as he would not return the exact same note that he took

• he would replace it with different money of the same value

• not entitled to take moeny and it did not matter that he was going to pay it back

what is shown in r v llyod?

• d worked at a cinema and gave films to his friends to copy and returned them straight away

• not theft

• films were not reduced in value nor changed state

• d did not intend to permanently deprive the owner of them

what does zerei show?

d drove off in v’s car and abandoned it 30 mins later - less than one km away

temporary deprivation rather than evidence to permanently deprive

what does fernandes show?

if d takes a risk with a clients money that is intention to permanently deprive

what if s.6(1) is interpreted widely?

d regarded as treating v’s property as his own regardless of v’s rights

d will be found to have intended to permanently deprive

what case shows that if you treat the property as your own it is intention to permanently deprive when taking property?

velumyl

dpp v lavender

what case shows that if you treat the property as your own it is intention to permanently deprive when breaking or disposing property?

dpp v j - d breaking v’s headphones

what case shows that if you treat the property as your own it is intention to permanently deprive when abandoment occurs?

r v vinall - bicycle taken and abandoned 50 yards away at a bus stop - intention to permanently deprive