Theft Flashcards
Appropriation
The assumption by D of any of the property rights of the owner (2)
broad interpretation
Morris
Gomez
Consent and appropriation
Starting point - theft can occur with owner’s consent and still be dishonest
Lawrence
Consent and appropriation
Theft requires some unauthorised act - cannot happen where there is consent
Morris
Consent and appropriation
Return to original position - appropriation can occur with or without consent
Gomez
Consent and appropriation
Issue of gifts vs appropriation. Money can be a gift but also appropriation
Civil - valid gifts
Criminal - theft
Hinks
These cases overextend the scope of the offence and place a great emphasis on the mens rea - creates an overlap with s.15 Theft Act 1968
Morris
Gomez
Hinks
definition of property includes things in action
Kohn
Hilton
case about proprietary interest, when it passes to next owner and the status of abandoned items.
Did this property really belong to another?
R (on the application of Ricketts) v Basildon Magistrates’ Court
proprietary interest/ control of a possession can be present without the person being aware of it.
Woodman
‘abandoned’ gold balls
Hibbert v McKiernan
R v Rostron (Terry)
If you are given property for a particular purpose tou must use it for that purpose s.5(3) Theft act
Davidge v Bunnett
Wain
s.5 (3) There must be a legal obligation to deal with the property in a particular way
Mainwaring
s.5(4) if D has someone else’s property by mistake and is under an obligation to restore it, then it does not belong to D
AG Reference (No.1 of 1983)
Dishonesty
judge in this case said it was a question of law (if money is taken it is dishonest)
CA disagreed - dishonesty should be a question of fact for the jury
Feeley
Dishonesty
Leading authority for 35 years
Jury asked to apply contemporary standard of dishonesty - common sense
CA said definitive test needed (because of the disagreement about dishonesty)
Ghosh
Dishonesty
Was it dishonest according to the standards of reasonable and honest people?
Did D realise that reasonable and honest people would regard what he did as dishonest?
Ghosh
Dishonesty
What was the state of D’s knowledge or belief as to the facts?
Was D’s conduct honest or dishonest according to the (objective) standards of the ordinary, decent person?
Ivey
Intention permanently to deprive
If something is returned in the same state / substantially the same then this could be temporary/ borrowing. If it returned in such a changed state then intention permanently to deprive
Lloyd
Intention permanently to deprive
An intention to return something of equivalent value is not the same as returning what was taken
Velumyl
Conditional intent to steal is not sufficient for theft
Easom 1971
Theft vs robbery (use of force)
Intention permanently to deprive when abandoning property –> theft.
Vinall 2011
If D intended intended ‘to treat the thing as his own to dispose of regardless of the other’s rights’. –> theft (intention to permanently deprive)
Fernandes 1996
