Theft, Robbery And Burglary

Question 1

Theft act and section

Answer 1

S.1 Theft Act 1968

Question 2

Robbery act and section

Answer 2

S.8 Theft Act 1968

Question 3

Burglary act and section

Answer 3

S.9(1)(a) and S.9(1)(b) Theft Act 1968

Question 4

Theft statutory offence

Answer 4

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 5

Robbery statutory offence

Answer 5

A person is guilty of robbery if he steals and immediately before or at the time of doing so and in order to do so he uses force on any person or puts or seeks to put any person in fear of being then or there subjected to force

Question 6

Burglary statutory offence

S.9(1)(a)

Answer 6

A person is guilty of burglary if he enters any building as a trespasser with intent to steal, inflict GBH or do unlawful damage to the building or anything in it

Question 7

Burglary statutory offence

S.9(1)(b)

Answer 7

A person is guilty of burglary if, having entered a building or part of a building as a trespasser, he steals or attempts to steal anything in the building or inflicts or attempts to inflict GBH on any person in the building

Question 8

Burglary statutory offence

S.9(2)

Answer 8

The offences referred to in ss(1)(a) are offences of stealing anything in the building or part of the building in question or inflicting GBH on any person and of doing unlawful damage to the building

Question 9

Burglary statutory offence

S.9(4)

Answer 9

References to ss(1) and (2) to as building and the reference in ss(3) to a building which is a dwelling, shall apply to any such vehicle or vessel when the person having the habitation in it is not there as well as at times when he is

Question 10

Properties of the offence of theft

Answer 10

Dishonest - s.2
Appropriation - s.3
Property - s.4
Belonging to another - s.5
Intention to permanently deprive - s. 6

Question 11

Properties of the offence of robbery

Answer 11

Steals
Immediately before
Time
Order to do so
Force
Fear of force

Question 12

Properties of the offence of burglary s.9(1)(a)

Answer 12

Defendant must intend to do one of the three listed offences at the time of entering. It does not matter that they don’t actually go through with the theft.

Question 13

Properties of the offence of burglary s.9(1)(b)

Answer 13

What the defendant intends on entry is irrelevant, but the prosecution must prove that he actually committed or attempted to commit theft or GBH

Question 14

Other key features of the offence of theft

Answer 14

All elements of this definition must be satisfied for the defendant to be guilty. Theft is a triable either way offence with a maximum penalty of 7 years

Question 15

Other key features of the offence of robbery

Answer 15

A theft that is aggravated by the use of force. The maximum sentence is life imprisonment. There must be a completed theft for a robbery to have been committed so all of the elements of theft must be present

Question 16

Other key features of the offence of burglary

Answer 16

If convicted of burglary of a dwelling (home) the defendant could be imprisoned for up to 14 years. Any other conviction for burglary could get up to 10 years imprisonment

Question 17

What acts is theft governed by?

Answer 17

Theft Acts 1968 and 1978.

The reasons Act 1968 was updated was because it contained many legal loopholes

Question 18

Theft MR

Answer 18

Dishonesty

Intention to permanently deprive

Question 19

Theft AR

Answer 19

Appropriation
Property
Belonging to another

Question 20

Where is appropriation defined?

Answer 20

S.3 of the Theft Act 1968, written as s.3 Theft Act 1968

Question 21

S.3(1) Theft Act 1968 states

Answer 21

Any assumption by a person of the rights of an owner amounts to an appropriation.
The thief must do something which assumes one of the owners rights

Question 22

Morris

Appropriation

Answer 22

A defendant only has to assume a single right of the owner to satisfy an appropriation

It is enough for the prosecution if they have proved the assumption of any of the rights of the owner of the goods in question

Question 23

Pitham and Hehl

Appropriation

Answer 23

Appropriation by assuming the right to sell

Question 24

Appropriation by assuming the right to sell

Answer 24

The offer to sell is an assumption of the owner and and the appropriation took place at that point even if the owner was never deprived of it

Question 25

Appropriation by assuming the owners right to destroy property

Answer 25

If the defendant destroys property belonging to another he can be charged with theft. They can also be charged with theft if they throw the other person’s property away

Question 26

Lawrence

Appropriation

Answer 26

Appropriation when the victim had given consent
Defendant argued that he had not appropriated the property because the student had consented him to taking it, this argument was rejected

Question 27

Gomez

Appropriation

Answer 27

Appropriation when the victim has given consent

Appropriation had taken place, there was no need for adverse interference with or usurpation of some right of the owner

Question 28

Hinks

Appropriation

Answer 28

To be guilty of theft the defendant need not do anything contrary to the owner’s wishes. Even when there has been no deception an appropriation can still occur.
The defendant was dishonest meaning they can be guilty of stealing

Question 29

A later assumption of a right

Answer 29

Can be an appropriation when the defendant acquires property without stealing it if the decide to deal or sell the property as the owner

Question 30

Appropriation cannot be a continuing act

Answer 30

If someone picked up your bag and continued to use it from that point, the moment of appropriation would have occured when the bag was first touched

Question 31

Atakpu and Abrahams

Appropriation

Answer 31

A later assumption of a right

Appropriation cannot be a continuing act

Question 32

Property is defined in

Answer 32

Section 4 of the Theft Act 1968

Question 33

S.4 Theft Act 1968 states that

Answer 33

Property includes money and all other property real or personal, including things in action and other intangible property

Question 34

Property can be

Answer 34

Money
Real property - land and buildings
Personal property - movable items such as books
Things in action - bank account
Other intangible property - patent, export quota

Question 35

Kelly and Lindsay

Property

Answer 35

Personal property
They were convicted of theft and appealed on the ground that body parts were not property but they were property of the college

Question 36

Real property legal terms for land and buildings

Answer 36

S.4(2) states when land can be stolen:
Where a trustee or personal representative takes land in breach of his duties
Someone not in possession of land severs anything forming part of the land from the land
A tenant takes a fixture or structure from the land let to him

Question 37

Example of theft of real property

Answer 37

1972 a man was prosecuted for stealing Cleckheaton Railway station by dismantling it and removing it

Question 38

Kohn

Property

Answer 38

Things in action

Meant to write cheques to pay off the companies debt but instead made out cheques to pay off his own debt

Question 39

Things in action

Answer 39

A thing in action is a right which can be enforced against another person by an action in law. The right itself is property under s.4

Question 40

AG for Hong Kong v Chan Nai-Keung

Property

Answer 40

Other intangible property

A director of two different companies sold a quota from one to another at an undervalued price

Question 41

Other intangible property

Answer 41

Refers to other rights which have no physical presence but can be stolen under the Theft Act

Question 42

Things that can’t be stolen and the sections

Answer 42

S.4(3) mushrooms growing wild or anything from a plant growing wild
S4(4) wild creatures, tamed or untamed
Confidential information
Electricity

Question 43

Oxford v Moss

Property

Answer 43

Things which cannot be stolen
Confidential information cannot be stolen
A student that acquired an exam paper he was meant to sit. Knowledge of the questions was held not to be property

Question 44

Low v Blease

Property

Answer 44

Electricity is not property in terms of the Theft Act but a person can be guilty under a different offence if they divert power to their own property

Question 45

Belonging to another act

Answer 45

Defined in section 5 of the Theft Act 1968

Question 46

S.5 Theft Act 1968 states that

Answer 46

Property shall be regarded as belonging to any person having possession or control of it or having it in any proprietary right or interest (not being an equitable interest arising only from an agreement to transfer or grant an interest)