Property Offences

Question 1

What is theft defined as and the section it is charged under?

Answer 1

-‘Theft’ is defined in S1 of the Theft Act as ‘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 2

What sections in the Theft Act are used to explain words/phrases in the definition of “theft”?

Answer 2

-Section 2: dishonesty (MR)
-Section 3: appropriates (AR)
-section 4: property (AR)
-section 5: belonging to another (AR)
-section 6: with the intention of permanently depriving (MR)

Question 3

What does Section 3 state about appropriation and what does this mean?

Answer 3

-In section 3, it states, “any assumption by a person of the rights of an owner amounts to appropriation”
-the rights of an owner can include selling the property, destroying it, possessing it, consuming, lending and hiring it.

Question 4

What is the case of Vinall?

Answer 4

-APPROPRIATION
-Vs were out cycling when they encountered D. D stole Vs bike, and abandoned it by a shelter a large distance away.
-the COA stated either two actions could be regarded as an assumption of the rights of the owner (taking the bike and abandoning the bike)

Question 5

What is the case of Morris?

Answer 5

-APPROPRIATION
-D switched the price labels of two items on a shelf. He took it to checkout and was arrested before that.
-shows that there does not have to be an assumption of all the rights of an owner.

Question 6

What is a case for consent to the appropriation?

Answer 6

-LAWRENCE: court stated that appropriation was an assumption of any of an owner’s rights, taking place regardless of whether the owner consents.

Question 7

What is a case for consent without deception?

Answer 7

-HINKS: where it was decided that even though V gave a valid gift, it was still an appropriation.

Question 8

What are all the things considered as property and what was shown in the case of Lindsay?

Answer 8

-money, real property (land/buildings), personal property, things in action (bank account, credit card holder) and other intangible property.
-it was held in Lindsay that dead bodies and body parts are personal property.

Question 9

What does section 5 state about “belonging to another”?

Answer 9

-person can have either have possession, control of the property or any proprietary interest in it.

Question 10

What is the case of Turner?

Answer 10

BELONGING TO ANOTHER
-D left his car at a garage for repairs and took the car in the middle of the night without paying for the repairs.
-due to repairer’s lien (a right to keep possession of property belonging to another until a debt owned by that person is paid) , D was convicted.

Question 11

What is the case of Woodman?

Answer 11

BELONGING TO ANOTHER
-a company had sold all scrap metal on its site to another company.
-small amount of scrap had been left on site and company had put notices warning trespassers to keep out.
-D took remaining scrap and was convicted of theft even though the company was unaware there was any scrap left.
-shows it’s possible for someone to be possession/control of property even he/she does not know it’s there.

Question 12

What is the case of Webster?

Answer 12

BELONGING TO ANOTHER: PROPRIETARY INTEREST
-D was an army sergeant, he was awarded a medal for his service.
-By mistake, he was sent a second copy of his medal which he sold on EBay.
-he was convicted of theft of the medal as the Minister still had a proprietary interest in the medal .

Question 13

What are the scenarios where D can be guilty of theft even though the property may not “belong to another”?

Answer 13

-trust property, where a trustee can steal it.
-property received under an obligation.
-property received by another’s mistake.

Question 14

What is the case of Wain?

Answer 14

-BELONGING TO ANOTHER
-there are situations in which property is handed over to D on the basis that they’ll deal with it in a particular way.
-D helped raise and collect money for a charity. He put the charity in his personal account with the trust permission but used the money for his own purposes. He was found guilty of theft.
PROPERTY RECEIVED UNDER OBLIGATION

Question 15

What is the case of Attorney Generals Reference?

Answer 15

-BELONGING TO ANOTHER
-D received an overpayment of her wages. She knowingly does not return salary. Conviction of theft upheld.
-PROPERTY RECEIVED BY MISTAKE

Question 16

What does the case of Gilks show?

Answer 16

-betting transactions are considered as theft. Although it was not enforceable at law back then, it would be now.

Question 17

What are examples of behaviour which is not dishonest?

Answer 17

-he/she has in law, the right to deprive the other of it, on behalf of him/herself of a third person.
-he/she would have the others consent if the other knew of the appropriation and the circumstances of it.
-the person to whom the property belongs cannot he discovered by taking reasonable steps.

Question 18

What is the case of Small?

Answer 18

-DISHONESTY
-D took a car, he believed it to be abandoned. D put petrol in the tank and drove it off. He said it was not until he saw the police that he thought the car might’ve been stolen.
-However, his conviction was quashed because of unreasonable belief. The question to consider was whether D had an honest belief that the owner could not be found.

Question 19

What was in the case of Holden?

Answer 19

-D was charged with theft of scrap tyres. He claimed that other people had taken tires with the permission of the supervisor.
-COA quashed his conviction. As the test is subjective, a person was not dishonest if he/she believed, reasonably or not, that he/she had a legal right to the property, proving that belief is genuinely held.

Question 20

What happens in cases where D is willing to pay?

Answer 20

-D may say that he/she is willing to pay for the property or may, on taking property, leave money to pay for it. THIS DOES NOT PREVENT Ds CONDUCT FROM BEING DISHONEST.

Question 21

What is the Ghosh test for dishonesty?

Answer 21

-1) Was what was done dishonest according to the ordinary standards of reasonable and honest people?
-2)Did the defendant realise that what he/she was doing was dishonest by those standards?

Question 22

What is the case of Velumyl?

Answer 22

-INTENTION TO PERMANENTLY DEPRIVE
-D took £1000 from office safe. He said that he was owed money by a friend and he was going to replace the money. COA upheld his conviction as he had the intention of permanently depriving the company of the banknotes, even if he intended replacing them.

Question 23

What does Section 6 of the Theft Act state about the “intention to permanently deprive” state?

Answer 23

-S6 of the Theft Act states that he/she can be regarded as having the intention to permanently deprive the other of it if it is his/her intention to treat the thing as his/her own to dispose of, regardless of the other’s rights.

Question 24

What does the case of Lavender state?

Answer 24

-INTENTION TO PERMANENTLY DEPRIVE
-court rules that “dispose of” was too narrow, as a disposal could include “dealing with” property.

Question 25

What does the case of Lloyd show?

Answer 25

-it was in this case that it was held that borrowing the property and keeping it until the “goodness, the virtue, the practical value…has gone out the article” is an intention to permanently deprive.

Question 26

What does conditional intent mean?

Answer 26

-when D examines property to see if there’s anything worth stealing. The case of Easom shows that D will not be guilty if this happens.