Theft Act 1968

Question 1

What are the three defences for theft?

Answer 1

S1(1)a ‘believing’ he had the legal right to deprive the other of it
S1(1)b ‘the owner would consent if they knew the circs
S1(1)c ‘ believing that by taking reasonable steps the owner could not be discovered

Question 2

Test for Dishonesty

Answer 2

Ivey v Genting Casinos [2017] Test for the jury ‘Applies the standard of ordinary decent people’

Question 3

Meaning of appropriation

Answer 3

Assumed rights of the owner
or
Treating the property as your own

Question 4

‘but I paid good money for this’

Answer 4

If you buy in good faith can do with it as you please but if you later learn that it is stolen then it may amount to theft if you try to sell it on, destroy, get rid or keep it. (cannot steal twice).

Question 5

S4 Property

Answer 5

• Real & Intangible – includes money
• ‘Things in action’
• ‘Animals’
• ‘Property’ includes possession of anything prohibited i.e drugs

Question 6

S4(2) – Land

Answer 6

Cannot steal land or things forming part of the land. Except:

• A trustee/power of attorney
• Not in possession of the land and takes anything forming the land by severing it i.e. tuft/soil
• In possession of land under tenancy, takes whole or part of any fixtures/structures let to be used with the land.

Things growing wild: 4 F’s. No monetary gain. BUT if you were to steal 4F’s not growing wild OR use them to make money then this will be theft. i.e making jam from blackberries to sell or using mushrooms to make mushroom soup and sell.

Question 7

S4(4) – Creatures

Answer 7

Wild creatures, tamed or untamed, shall be regarded as property BUT a person cannot steal a wild creature not tamed or ordinarily kept in captivity OR the carcass of such a creature.

Carcass – reduced into possession by or on behalf of another person AND possession of it has not been lost or abandoned OR another person is in the process of reducing it into possession.
(In the process of making the property yours)

Question 8

S5(1) – Belonging to another

Answer 8

• Ownership – Lawful possession/legal title
• Possession – Right to use the property as if it were yours without having the ownership.
• Control – Manipulate the property i.e. delivery services
- Proprietary right or interest in the property (Car/garage/parts/bill)

• S5(3) – Property will still belong to someone else even if they give it to another person where another person is under an obligation to retain/deal with property in a certain way.
• S5(4) – Where a person gets property by another’s mistake an intention not to make restoration = intention to deprive.

Question 9

S6 – Intention to permanently deprive

BREAKS

Answer 9

BREAKS (Perm deprive).
B – Bury, breaks destroys
R – Retains it
E – Eats, drinks, consumes it
A – Abandons it, throws away of leaved in a place where ethe owner is unlikely to recover
K – Keeps property until it has no further use
S – Sells it on