property offenses Flashcards
(25 cards)
larceny consists of:
1) A taking (obtaining control)
2) And carrying away (asportation - slightest movement)
3) Of tangible personal property (excluding realty, services, and intangibles, but including written instruments embodying intangible rights such as stock certificates)
4) from another with possession
5) By trespass (without consent or by consent induced by fraud)
6) With intent to permanently deprive that person of their interest in the property
larceny - custody vs. possession
Possession involves a greater scope of authority to deal with the property than does custody.
Generally, the defendant has possession if they were given discretionary authority over the property and has custody if they were given only limited authority over the property.
Ordinarily, low level employees have only custody of an employer’s property and so are guilty of larceny for taking it.
larceny - bailee and “breaking bulk”
Generally, a bailee has possession and thus may be guilty of embezzlement if they take the property.
However, if the bailee opens closed containers in which the property has been placed by the bailor (that is, the bailee “breaks bulk”), the possession is regarded, by use of a fiction, as returning to the bailor, and thus the bailee may then be guilty of larceny if they take that property.
larceny - intent to permanently deprive
a. Sufficient Intent -
An intent to create a substantial risk of loss, or an intent to sell or pledge the goods to the owner, is sufficient for larceny.
b. Insufficient Intent -
Where the defendant believes that the property they are taking is theirs or where they intend only to borrow the property or to keep it as repayment of a debt, there is no larceny.
c. Possibly Sufficient Intent -
There may be larceny where the defendant intends to pay for the goods (if the goods were not for sale) or intends to collect a reward from the owner (if there is no intent to return the goods absent a reward).
larceny - abandoned, lost, or mislaid property
Larceny can be committed with lost or mislaid property or property that has been delivered by mistake, but not with abandoned property.
larceny - continuing trespass
If the defendant wrongfully takes property without the intent to permanently deprive (for example, without permission borrows an umbrella), and later decides to keep the property, the defendant is guilty of larceny when they decide to keep it.
However, if the original taking was not wrongful (for example, the defendant took the umbrella thinking it was theirs) and later decides to keep it, it is not larceny.
embezzlement is:
- The fraudulent
- Conversion (that is, dealing with the property in a manner inconsistent with the arrangement by which defendant has possession)
- Of personal property
- Of another
- By a person in lawful possession of that property
embezzlement vs. larceny
Embezzlement differs from larceny because in embezzlement the defendant misappropriates property while it is in their rightful possession, while in larceny the defendant misappropriates property not in their possession.
embezzlement - fraudulent intent
Defendant must intend to defraud.
a. Intent to Restore -
If the defendant intends to restore the exact property taken, it is not embezzlement. However, if the defendant intends to restore similar or substantially identical property, it is embezzlement, even if it was money that was initially taken and other money—of identical value—that they intended to return.
b. Claim of Right -
As in larceny, embezzlement is not committed if the conversion is pursuant to a claim of right to the property. Whether defendant took the property openly is an important factor.
false pretenses is:
the offense of false pretenses is:
1) Obtaining title
2) To personal property of another
3) By an intentional false statement of a past or existing fact
4) With intent to defraud the other
5) victim was actually deceived by/acted in reliance on the misrepresentation
larceny by trick vs. false pretenses
If the victim is tricked—by a misrepresentation of fact—into giving up mere custody or possession of property, the crime is larceny by trick.
If the victim is tricked into giving up title to property, the crime is false pretenses.
Robbery is:
1) A taking
2) Of personal property of another
3) From the other’s person or presence (including anywhere in their vicinity)
4) By force or threats of immediate death or physical injury to the victim, a family member, or some person in the victim’s presence
5) With the intent to permanently deprive them of it
robbery vs. larceny
robbery requires that the defendant use force or threats to obtain or retain the victim’s property. Thus, pickpocketing generally would be larceny, but if the victim notices the attempt and resists, the taking would be robbery.
extortion
Common law extortion consists of the corrupt collection of an unlawful fee by an officer under color of office.
Under modern statutes, extortion (blackmail) often consists of obtaining property by means of threats to do harm or to expose information. Under some statutes, the crime is complete when threats are made with the intent to obtain property; meaning, the property need not be obtained.
extortion vs. robbery
in extortion the threats may be of future harm and the taking does not have to be in the presence of the victim.
receipt of stolen property is:
1) Receiving possession and control
2) Of “stolen” personal property at the time D receives it
3) Known to have been obtained in a manner constituting a criminal offense
4) By another person
5) With the intent to permanently deprive the owner of their interest in it
receipt of stolen property - is manual possession necessary?
Manual possession is not necessary. The defendant possesses the property when it is put in a location designated by them or they arrange a sale for the thief to a third person
theft
Under many modern statutes and the M.P.C., some or all of the property offenses are combined and defined as the crime of “theft.”
forgery is
1) Making or altering (by drafting, adding, or deleting)
*2) A writing with apparent legal significance (for example, a contract, not a painting)
3) So that it is false; that is, representing that it is something that it is not, not merely containing a misrepresentation
4) With intent to defraud (although no one need actually have been defrauded)
forgery - fraudulently obtaining signature of another
If the defendant fraudulently causes a third person to sign a document that the third person does not realize they are signing, forgery has been committed.
But if the third person realizes they are signing the document, forgery has not been committed even if the third person was induced by fraud to sign it.
forgery - uttering a forged instrument consists of:
(1) offering as genuine;
(2) an instrument that may be the subject of forgery and is false;
(3) with intent to defraud.
common law burglary consists of:
1) A breaking (actual or constructive by fraud/threat)
2) And entry (any part of the body crosses into the structure)
3) Of a dwelling (a structure used with regularity for sleeping purposes)
4) Of another (ownership is irrelevant; occupancy by someone other than the defendant is all that is required)
5) At nighttime
6) With the intent to commit a felony in the structure at the time of the breaking/entering (felony need not be carried out to constitute burglary)
modern burglary
Modern statutes often eliminate many of the “technicalities” of common law burglary, including the requirements of a breaking, that the structure be a dwelling, that the act occur at nighttime, and that the intent be to commit a felony (intent to commit misdemeanor theft is often enough).
Arson at common law consists of:
1) The malicious (intentional or with reckless disregard of an obvious risk)
2) Burning (scorching not sufficient, charring IS sufficient)
3) Of the dwelling
4) Of another
