THEFT

Question 1

definition

Answer 1

• s1 theft act 1968
• a person is guilty of theft if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to another with the intention to permanently deprive the other of it

Question 2

ACTUS REUS
1.

Answer 2

• s3(1) APPROPRIATION
• any assumption (take, sell, lend, destroy) of owner’s rights
• can be appropriation by deception (LAWRENCE)

Question 3

ACTUS REUS
2.

Answer 3

• s4(1) PROPERTY
• money, real property, tangible items (KOHN)
• s4(3) wild plants aren’t property unless taken for reward or sale

Question 4

ACTUS REUS
3.

Answer 4

• s5(1) BELONGING TO ANOTHER
• control, possession, proprietary interest (TURNER)
• s5(3) “where a person receives property from another and is under obligation to retain and deal with that property and its proceedings, the property belongs to another” WAIN
• s5(4) property received by mistake belongs to another where d has an obligation to make restoration (GILKS)

Question 5

MENS REA
1.

Answer 5

• s2(1) dishonesty
• d isn’t dishonest if he believes he has a right to appropriate the property (R V SMALL)
• Barton & Booth set out criminal test.
  -> was d’s actual state of knowledge as to the facts?
  -> was d’s conduct dishonest as to the standard of an ordinary person

Question 6

MENS REA
2.

Answer 6

• s6(1) ITPD
• means to treat property as his own to dispose of regardless of owner’s rights (DPP V LAVENDER)
• also be borrowing or lending property for a period of time
  LLOYD - borrowing property until the “goodness, virtue, and practical value has gone” amounts to an outright taking