Property offences (Theft/ Robbery)

Appropriation definition

Assuming rights of the owner

belonging to another

Anyone with possession, control, or a proprietary interest.

Consent is irrelevant to appropriation

R v Lawrence

Gifts can be appropriation

R v Hinks

You can steal your own property

R v Turner- stole his car from the mechanic

Abandoned meaning

Property that has no owner

case-R v Rostron- golf balls belonging to a club

Rule on keeping overpaid wages

AG Ref

wrong prices in shop

R v Morris

5 types of property

Type	Definition	Key Case / Example
Money	Coins and banknotes	R v Velumyl
Personal	Moveable objects	R v Kelly & Lindsay
Real	Land and buildings	s.4(2) (Limited circumstances)
Things in Action	Rights enforceable by law	Bank accounts / Cheques
Intangible	Non-physical rights	Oxford v Moss (Info is NOT property)

Force can be minimal

R v Dawson and James

Appropriaton can be a continuing act

R v Hale

Robbery requires all elements of theft to be present first.

R v Robinson

• D used a knife to get £5 he was owed. He wasn't "dishonest" (s.2(1)(a) right in law), so there was no theft, therefore no robbery.

The theft is "complete" (for robbery) the moment the property is appropriated.

Corcoran v Anderton (1980)

• D tugged a bag, V let go, and it hit the floor. D ran off empty-handed. Result: Guilty of robbery; the "assumption of rights" happened the moment V let go.

"Force" is an ordinary word for the jury; it doesn't need to be serious.

R v Dawson and James

D nudged/jostled the victim so an accomplice could take a wallet. Result: A nudge is sufficient force for robbery.

Wrenching an item out of someone’s hand counts as force on the person.

R v Clouden