Property Offences

Question 1

What’s the definition of theft ?

Answer 1

When a person dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it. ( Theft Act 1968 s1)

Question 2

What’s the AR of theft? (s3)

Answer 2

“Appropriation” (s3) - the act of taking something.

Question 3

Why does appropriation have a wide meaning?

Answer 3

For appropriation, the thief must assume (take over) at least one of the owners rights, these rights can include selling or destroying the property, using it, consuming it or hiring it out. S3 “ any assumption by a person of the rights of the owner”

Question 4

What happened in R v Vinall?

Answer 4

The D picked up a man’s bike and left it at a bus shelter. The Court of Appeal stated in respect to appropriation, that taking the bike and abandoning it assumes the rights of the owner.

Question 5

What happened in R v Pitham?

Answer 5

The D “sold” furniture belonging to another person in that persons house. This was held to be appropriation. The offer to sell was an assumption of the rights of the owner and this is where the appropriation took place. It doesn’t matter if the furniture was removed from the house or not, D still appropriated it.

Question 6

What does the Theft Act 1968 not specify ?

Answer 6

That appropriation must be without the consent of the owner.

Question 7

What happened in Lawrence v Commissioner for Met Police?

Answer 7

An Italian student got into a taxi which should’ve cost 50p, but offered £1 to the driver, Lawrence, but Lawrence said it wasn’t enough, so the student gave him another £6. The court stated that there was appropriation in this situation, regardless of whether the owner consented to it.

Question 8

What happened in R v Gomez?

Answer 8

The D persuaded the manager to accept two cheques which he knew were worthless and stolen as payment for goods in the shop. The court stated that an act authorised by the owner of goods or consented by him or her could amount to the appropriation of goods within the Theft Act 1968. To have committed appropriation, the D doesn’t need to go against the owners apparent wishes.

Question 9

How is “Property” defined in the Theft Act 1968 (s4)?

Answer 9

Property includes money, personal property (moveable items, clothing, cars), real property (land and buildings), things in action (bank accounts and cheques), and other intangible property (rights which have no physical presence but may be stolen such as electricity)

Question 10

What cannot be stolen under the theft act?

Answer 10

Wild creatures (unless tamed or in possession of another), fruits, mushrooms, (unless used for commercial reasons) and land

Question 11

What happened in Oxford v Moss?

Answer 11

A university student stole a digital copy of an exam paper he was due to sit. D didn’t intend to permanently deprive Oxford of the paper. He was found not guilty of theft of confidential information.

Question 12

How is “Belonging to another” (s5) defined in the Theft Act?

Answer 12

It means property “belonging to any person having possession or control of it, or having it in any proprietary right or interest”

Question 13

What does “possession or control” cover?

Answer 13

Covers situations where the appropriation isn’t from the owner, but from someone who has the owner’s permission to have the property in their possession

Question 14

What happened in R v Turner?

Answer 14

D left his car for repair at a garage, but he took the car without paying. An owner can steal his or her own property if it’s in possession to someone else and be guilty of theft. The Court of Appeal upheld his conviction.

Question 15

What happened in R v Woodman?

Answer 15

Site owners had arranged for scrap metal on the site to be removed. Unknown to them, a small amount was left and stolen by the D. He was convicted even though the company was unaware there was any scrap left. Shows someone can be in possession or in control of property if they don’t know it’s there.

Question 16

Where can the D be guilty of theft? - “proprietary interest”

Answer 16

D can still be guilty of stealing their own property if another person has proprietary interest in it.

Question 17

What happened in R v Webster? (Proprietary interest)

Answer 17

An army sergeant was sent 2 medals by mistake, and he sold it on eBay. The Ministry of Defence had an equitable interest, in other words a proprietary interest in the medal, so D was guilty of theft.

Question 18

When can a D be guilty of theft? Give examples

Answer 18

S5 makes it clear that D can be guilty of theft even if the property doesn’t “belong to another”. These are property received under obligation or received by another’s mistake.

Question 19

What happened in Davidge v Bunnett ? (property received under an obligation)

Answer 19

D was given money by her flatmates to pay the gas bill, but bought Christmas presents instead. There was a clear obligation to deal with the property in a particular way, so D was guilty of theft.

Question 20

What happened in Attorney Generals Reference? (property received by mistake)

Answer 20

An overpayment was made by D’s employer into her bank account, she didn’t return the money. She was convicted of theft of property (a thing in action) as she was under an obligation to return it.

Question 21

What does s2.1 of Theft Act say about s2 of dishonesty?

Answer 21

Section 2.1 says that a person’s appropriation isn’t dishonest if they believe that:
A) they have the legal right to deprive the other of it - a subjective test.
B) the owner would consent to them taking it if they knew the circumstances.
C) the owner cannot be found by taking reasonable steps.

Question 22

What does all of s2.1 depend on?

Answer 22

Depends on the D’s belief. It doesn’t matter if this belief is correct or even reasonable.

Question 23

Where does test for dishonesty come from?

Answer 23

R v Ghosh - The Court of Appeal decided the test for dishonesty has both a subjective and objective element.
Objective: was it dishonest based on the ordinary standards of reasonable and honest people?
Subjective: did the D realise what he or she was doing was dishonest by those standards?

Question 24

What happened in Ivy v Genting casinos?

Answer 24

The Supreme Court established a preferred definition of dishonesty.
1. Decide what the individual knew about what they were doing and the circumstances.
1. Decide if the ordinary decent member of society would say it was dishonest , simply if the D has different or lower standards

Question 25

In R v Barton and Booth what did Lord Chief Justice decide?

Answer 25

Accepted the definition proposed in Ivey. He said the test in R v Ghosh ought not to be used.

Question 26

What does the MR of the “Intention of permanently depriving” (s6) lay out?

Answer 26

Person treats the thing as their own to dispose of regardless of the others rights.

Question 27

What happened in R v Velumyl?

Answer 27

D took money from the office safe and said he would replace the money. Court of Appeal upheld his conviction for theft as he had the intention of permanently depriving the company of the money, despite intending to replace it later.

Question 28

What does s6 say about borrowing or lending?

Answer 28

S6 states that borrowing isn’t theft unless it’s for a period and equivalent to an outright taking or disposal. E.g in R v Lloyd a cinema worker gave D a film so he could make an illegal copy and returned the film in time for the next screening. His conviction for theft was quashed, as by returning the film to its original state it wasn’t possible to prove an intention to permanently deprive.

Question 29

What is the definition of Robbery under s8 of Theft Act 1968?

Answer 29

Robbery is theft with the use of threat or force.

Question 30

What must be present for robbery to be committed? (AR)

Answer 30

There must be a completed theft - meaning all elements of theft must be present for robbery to be committed

Question 31

What happened in R v Zerei?

Answer 31

D pulled a knife, punched V, took his car keys, drove and abandoned the car. D’s conviction of robbery was quashed on appeal, as there’s no offence of theft, so using force can’t make it into robbery.

Question 32

What happens if theft isn’t completed?

Answer 32

Then there’s an attempted theft and D could be charged with attempted robbery.

Question 33

What happened in Corcoran v Anderton and what does it show?

Answer 33

One of the D’s tugged at a woman’s bag, she let go and it fell. D ran off without the bag. It was held the theft was complete, so the D’s were guilty of robbery. When force is used to steal, then the moment the theft is complete there is robbery.

Question 34

What happened in R v Dawson and James and R v Clouden

Answer 34

The amount of force can be small. In R v Dawson and James - one of the D’s pushed V, causing him to lose balance so the other D could take his wallet.
R v Clouden, as it includes wrenching a bag from the victims hand where the D was guilty of robbery.

Question 35

What does B and R v DPP show?

Answer 35

The victim doesn’t have to be frightened and the amount of force doesn’t have to be great.

Question 36

What does “on any person” mean?

Answer 36

The person threatened doesn’t have to be the person the theft happens to. E.g an armed robber at a bank threatening to kill a customer unless the bank gives him money.

Question 37

When does the force have to be and What happened in R v Hale?

Answer 37

The force must be immediately before or at the time of the theft.
In R v Hale, the D’s forced their way into the victims house, covered her mouth while the other took a jewellery box. They tied up V and left. There was force immediately before the theft when D covered V’s mouth. Tying up V could also be force to steal, as theft was still ongoing. It’s shown for robbery, theft has been held to be a continuing act. Using force to escape can still be at the same time of the theft.

Question 38

What does force in order to steal mean?

Answer 38

Force must be used in order to steal. So if the force wasn’t used for this purpose , then any later theft won’t make it into robbery.

Question 39

What’s the mens rea for robbery?

Answer 39

The D must have the MR for theft. This means he or she must be dishonest and must intend to permanently deprive the other of the property. He or she must also intend to use force to steal.