Theft Act 1968 (UK Criminal Law)

- Theft Act 1968
- max = 7yrs imprisonment

- appropriation
- property
-belonging to another
(Appropriation of property belonging to another)

- dishonesty
- intention to permanently deprive (IPD)

- s.3(1) = appropriation is an assumption of the rights of the owner
- Morris case = this can include selling, touching, keeping and swapping price labels

- s.4(1) = property includes:
- money
- real property (landuildings)
- personal (moveable items, most things)
- things in action (a right that can be enforced)
- intangible property (money in bank accounts, intellectual property like copyright)

- confidential information is not property (OXFORD V MOSS)
- however, exam papers are property (R V AKBAR)
- wild animals and plants growing in the wild are NOT property

- s.5(1) = belonging to another means belonging to any person having POSSESSION OR CONTROL of it

- it is possible to steal your own property, if it is in the possession/control of another (R V TURNER)
- if D receives property under an obligation to use it a certain way, and they use it a different way, they can be found guilty of theft (R V MARSHALL, COOMBES AND EREN)
- Receiving property by mistake and not returning it can amount to theft (ATTORNEY GENERAL REFERENCE no.1 of 1983)

- s.6(1) = IPD is defined as intention to treat the thing as his own to dispose of, regardless of the other's rights (DPP V LAVENDER)

- If a D has borrowed the items, he is NOT guilty of theft if the "goodness, virtue and practical value of the property" still exists (LLOYD)
- Borrowing MONEY and then returning the same amount is theft, because D will not return the same exact money he took (VELUMYL)

- Through the Ivey test, est. in Ivey v Genting Casinos (a civil case), and confirmed in Barton and Booth
- The test asks, 'Was the action dishonest according to the ordinary standards of reasonable and honest people?'