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In the Criminal Law , theft (also known as '''stealing''') is the wrongful taking of someone else's Property without that person's freely-given Consent . As a term, it is used as shorthand for all major Crime s against property, encompassing offences such as Burglary , Embezzlement , Larceny , Looting , Robbery , Trespassing , Shoplifting , Intrusion , Fraud (theft by deception) and sometimes Criminal Conversion . In some jurisdictions, theft is considered to be Synonym ous with Larceny , in others theft has replaced larceny. ELEMENTS The '' Actus Reus '' of theft is usually defined as an unauthorised taking, keeping or using of another's property which must be accompanied by a '' Mens Rea '' of Dishonesty and/or the Intent to permanently deprive the owner or the person with rightful possession of that property or its use. For example, if X goes to a restaurant and, by Mistake , takes Y's scarf instead of her own, she has physically deprived Y of the use of the property (which is the ''actus reus'') but the mistake prevents X from forming the ''mens rea'' (i.e. because she believes that she is the owner, she is not dishonest and does not intend to deprive the "owner" of it) so no crime has been committed at this point. But if she realises the mistake when she gets home and could return the scarf to Y, she will steal the scarf if she dishonestly keeps it. Note that there may be civil liability for the Tort s of Trespass To Chattels or Conversion in either eventuality. THEFT IN ENGLISH LAW Theft was codified into a ''statutory offence'' in the Theft Act 1968 which defines it as: :"...the dishonest appropriation of property belonging to another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it". The five elements of the offence are defined sequentially in the Act:
::ownership is where a person is not legally accountable to anyone else for the use of the property: ::possession is where a person is only accountable to the owner for the use of the property; and ::control is where a person is only accountable to two people for the use of the property. :So if A buys a car for cash, A will be the owner. If A then lends the car to B Ltd (a Company ), B Ltd will have possession. C, an employee of B Ltd then uses the car and has control. If C uses the car in an unauthorised way, C will steal the car from A and B Ltd. This means that it is possible to steal one's own property. :In R. -v- Turner (No 2) (1971) 1 WLR 901, the owner removed his car from the forecourt of a garage where it had been left for collection after repair. He intended to avoid paying the bill. There was an appropriation of the car because it had been physically removed but there were two issues to be decided: ::did the car "belong to another"? The garage had a Lien i.e. a "proprietary right or interest" in the car as security for the unpaid bill and this gave the garage a better right than the owner to possess the car at the relevant time. ::what was the relevance of Turner's belief that he could not steal his own property? The defence of Mistake Of Law ) only applies if the defendant honestly believes that he has a right in law to act in the given way. Generalised and non-specific beliefs about what the law might permit are not a defence.
If the act of stealing is complete before another comes into possession of the goods, this may be Handling . For alternative charges involving Deceptions , see the Deception Offences and the Theft Act 1978 which may overlap with s1 Theft. For the theft of motor vehicles with ot without violence, see Robbery , Blackmail and TWOC . THEFT IN THE U.S. Although many US States have retained Larceny as the primary offence, some have now adopted theft provisions. SEE ALSO
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