Theft Act 1968 (property) Flashcards
What is property
It includes:
Money – currency or cheques etc of any kind
Real property
Personal property – from books to aeroplanes even dead bodies
Things in action
Other intangible property
Personal property - Kelly and Lindsay 1998
Kelly and Lindsay 1998
Kelly was a sculptor who asked Lindsay a lab tech to get him body parts so he could take plaster casts of them. Held that normally dead bodies weren’t property but in this case they had been left to science and by turning them into art it was property
What is real property
S4 - This is the legal term for land and buildings
These can only be stolen in the following circumstances:
A trustee takes land in breach of his duties as a trustee
Someone not in possession of the land severs anything forming part of the land from the land
Ie. Dismantles a wall to use the bricks somewhere else
A tenant takes a fixture or structure from the land let to him
What are things in action
This is a right which can be enforced against another person by an action in law
- bank account - you have the right to a payment from your bank account
- copyright
- registered trademark
- a ticket given someone the right to attend a performance
If you attempt to sell any of these rights then there may be theft of things in action
What is other intangible property
Rights which have no physical presence but can still be stolen
- a patent
A-G Hong Kong v chan nai-Keung- export quota for textiles was intangible property and could be stolen
Oxford v moss 1979 - knowledge of the questions on an exam paper was held not to be property
What things cannot be stolen
S4(3)- mushrooms, fruit and plants growing wild - unless it is for profit
You can steal cultivated plants - fruit. Apples from a farmers orchard
Picking blackberries growing in hedgerows is not theft unless it was done for sale
Wild creatures or their carcase, that are not tamed or ordinarily kept in captivity
Electricity
