Introduction

Question 1

Where is theft defined?

Answer 1

The charge against D must specify the property and the person to whom it is said to belong.

Question 2

What does S 1(1) say

Answer 2

A person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it’

Question 3

What is S 1(2)

Answer 3

S 1(2) ‘It is immaterial whether the appropriation is made with a view to gain, or is made for the thief’s own benefit’

Question 4

What is the AR of theft?

Answer 4

Appropriation (s.3); Of property (S.4); belonging to another (s.5)

Question 5

What is the MR of theft?

Answer 5

Dishonesty (s.2); intention permanently to deprive (s.6).

Question 6

How could apparition be defined?

Answer 6

Appropriation could have been construed as implying a mental as well as a physical element, but the courts prefer the simpler view that appropriation is an objective description of the act done, the fault in which is supplied by the element of dishonesty- ‘dishonest appropriation’ thus distils the essential wrongdoing in a theft case. This has been the case since the first HL decisions in Lawrence 1972, and Gomez 1993 and further supported in Hinks.