Definitions Flashcards
Intent to obtain
The defendant must intend to obtain, and he or she must intend to obtain by the deception.
Obtain
Crimes Act 1961, Section 217
Obtain, in relation to any person, means obtain or retain for himself or herself or for any other person.
Property
Crimes Act 1961, Section 2
Property includes real and personal property, and any estate or interest in any real or personal property, money, electricity, and any debt, and anything in action, and any other right or interest.
Service
Service is limited to financial or economic value and excludes privileges or benefits.
Valuable consideration
A valuable consideration is “anything capable of being valuable consideration, whether of a monetary kind or of any other kind; in short, money or money’s worth”.
For example:
- monetary payment in return for goods or services
- goods given in return for services provided
- issuing a false invoice to receive payment for goods never supplied.
Dishonestly
Crimes Act 1961, Section 217
Dishonestly, in relation to an act or omission, means done or omitted without a belief that there was expressed or implied consent to, or authority for, the act or omission from a person entitled to give such consent or authority.
That belief may be either:
- that the act or omission was, expressly or impliedly, consented to by a person entitled to give consent, or
- that the act or omission was authorised by a person entitled to authorise it.
Claim of right
Crimes Act 1961, Section 2
Claim of right, in relation to any act, means a belief at the time of the act in a proprietary or possessory right in property in relation to which the offence is alleged to have been committed, although that belief may be based on ignorance or mistake of fact or of any matter of law other than the enactment against which the offence is alleged to have been committed.
Taking
Crimes Act 1961, Section 219(4)
For tangible property, theft is committed by a taking when the offender moves the property or causes it to be moved.
Document
Crimes Act 1961, Section 217
Document means a document, or part of a document, in any form; and includes, without limitation,–
(a) any paper or other material used for writing or printing that is marked with matter capable of being read; or
(b) any photograph, or any photographic negative, plate, slide, film, or microfilm, or any photostatic negative; or
(c) any disc, tape, wire, soundtrack, card, or other material or device in or on which information, sounds, or other data are recorded, stored (whether temporarily or permanently), or embodied so as to be capable, with or without the aid of some other equipment, of being reproduced; or
(d) any material by means of which information is supplied, whether directly or by means of any equipment, to any device used for recording or stroing or processing information; or
(e) any material derived, whether directly or by means of any equipment, from information recorded or stored or processed by any device used for recording or storing or processing information
Attempting to commit an offence
Crimes Act 1971, Section 72
(1) Every one who, having an intent to commit an offence, does or omits an act for the purpose of accomplishing his object, is guilty of an attempt to commit the offence intended, whether in the circumstances it was possible to commit the offence or not.
(2) The question whether an act done or omitted with intent to commit an offence is or is not only preparation for the commission of that offence, and too remote to constitute an attempt to commit it, is a question of law.
(3) An act done or omitted with intent to commit an offence may constitute an attempt if it is immediately or proximately connected with the intended offence, whether or not there was any act unequivocally showing the intent to commit that offence.
Deception
Crimes Act 1961, Section 240(2)
In this section, deception means-
(a) a false representation, whether oral, documentary, or by conduct, where the person making the representation intends to deceive any other person and
(i) knows that it is false in a material particular; or
(ii) is reckless as to whether it is false in a material particular; or
(b) an omission to disclose a material particular, with intent to deceive any person, in circumstances where there is a duty to disclose it; or
(c) a fraudlent device, trick, or stratagem used with intent to deceive any person.
Representation
Examples have included representations about a past or present fact, about a future event, or about an existing intention, opinion, belief, knowledge or other state of mind.
“It must be capable of being false so it must contain a proposition of fact”.
False representation
Under the current law, the representation must be false and the defendant must know or belief that it is false in a material particular, or be reckless whether it is false.
Must prove:
- that there was an intent to deceive
- that there was a representation by the defendant
- that the representation was false; and that the defendant either:
- knew it to be false in a material particular OR
- was reckless whether it was false in a material particular.
Intent
In a criminal law context there are two specific types of intention in an offence. Firstly there must be an intention to commit the act and secondly, an intention to get a specific result.
Knowledge
Knowing means “knowing or correctly believing. The defendant may believe something wrongly but cannot ‘know’ something that is false”.
Knowledge can be established by:
- an admission
- implication from the circumstances surrounding the event
- propensity evidence
False in a material particular
The prosecution must establish either that the defendant knows or believes his representation is false in a material particular or is reckless as to whether it is false. A minor detail may amount to a “material particular” if it is of consequence to the facts of the case. The question of materiality will be assessed objectively.
Duty to disclose
Along with showing an intent to deceive, S240(2)(b) requires you to show that there was some material particular that was not disclosed, that the defendant was under a duty to disclose and that the defendant failed to perform that duty.
A duty to disclose will often originate in the civil law, for example where the parties are in a contractual relationship.
Device, trick, or stratagem
Device: A ‘plan, scheme or trick’.
Trick: An action or scheme undertaken to fool, outwit, or decieve.
Stratagem: A cunning plan or scheme especially for deceiving an enemy, or trickery.
Obtains ownership, possession or control
Goods are ‘obtained’ by a defendant if the goods come under their control, even though they may not have physical possession of them.
Property may be ‘obtained’ if a deception made to one person means that the property is then actually obtained from another person, provided that the deception operated on the mind of the person giving up the property.
Debt or liablity incurred
The debt or liability (incurred) must be legally enforcable.
‘Debt’ means money owing from one person to another.
‘Liability’ means a legally enforcable financial obligation to pay, such as the cost of a meal.
Induces
To persuade, bring about or give rise to.
To any other person
Crimes Act 1961, Section 2
Person, owner, and other words and expressions of the like kind, include the Crown and any public body or local authority, and any board, society, or company, and any other body of persons, whether incorporated or not, and the inhabitants of the district of any local authority, inlreation to such acts and things as it or they are capable of doing or owning.
