Stealing Flashcards
(13 cards)
Larceny (CL)
- Trespassory
- Taking
- And carrying away
- Of personal property
- Of another
- With intent to steal: (specific intent - subjective) – (To permanently deprive the owner of his property)
Larceny Notes (CL)
- Crime against possession: Taking a car you own but rented = larceny.
- Constructive – Jones – company could still reverse the transfer = constructive
- Actual possession
- Possession: Sufficient control to use is in an uncontrolled way.
1. (Bailees (cannot break bail - Mafnas) Agents, High level employees) - Custody: Having control over something for a limited purpose. (Normal employees – customers in the store)
Jones – overpaid trucker, only custody – he is like a clerk who needs to make change
Larcenty Element Notes (CL)
- Trespassory
- Original owner retains constructive possession if there is a reasonable or actual basis to believe they can be identified.
- Actual: Taking from someone else’s possession without their consent
- Constructive: Taking by way of false material misrepresentation (Larceny by trick) – Pear – rent horse and sold it.
- Consent: you can set a trap, but as soon as you aid, you consent, therefore, no more trespass. – Topolewski
- Lost property:
- For trespass, finder must know who the owner is or believe the owner can be found at the moment of finding. (owner retains constructive possession if they can reasonably be found)
- if you pick up with intent to return, and then later decide to steal = non-trespassory - Taking – exercising dominion/control – You cannot do a taking of something you already possess
- It is not Larceny if you take from someone who only has custody. - And carrying away
- Moving to get better access to the item or its contents is not carrying away, but taking it and making one step towards the door is. - Of personal property Only applies to tangible personal property –Lund (computer research) – but would apply to stealing from a thief/drugs
- Of another: If you have valid possession of the item, you cannot commit larceny
- With intent to steal: (specific intent - subjective) – (To permanently deprive the owner of his property)
- unreasonable MOF works.
- Continuing Trespass: there must be concurrence of the elements, but if the taking was trespassory, the law treats each moment as a new trespass. Later intent to steal = larceny if taking was trespassory.
Permanence: - If you intend to return = not permanent
- Intending to return equivalent property
- Items for sale: you took and intended to pay later = no larceny
- Items not for sale: - Fungible Item = probably not larceny (items like animal feed)
- Unique Item = probably larceny (unique painting)
- If you have asked to buy + been turned down, taking = larceny
- Exceptions that = permanence:
1. Conditional Returns – Davis – clothes (Why - there is a substantial risk the returner will keep the item if rejected)
2. Taking long enough to eliminate a major portion of its value
3. Taking temporarily but leaving it where it is unlikely to be recovered.
Embezzlement (CL)
- One in lawful possession
- Converts = substantially interferes
- With the property
- Of another
- Fraudulently (w/ intent to permanently deprive) – Specific intent (subjective)
- This is a crime against overuse of unauthorized possession.
- Restoring equivalent property is not a defense
Bazeley – Teller has possession until deposited.
False Pretenses (CL)
False Pretenses: Offense against ownership
1.Obtain title to property by means of
2. A false representation
3. That is material
4. With intent to defraud
5. Where the victim actually relies when parting with the property
Theft (MPC) = Larceny/Embezz
223.2 (1): A person is guilty of theft if he
1). Unlawfully takes orexercises control over
2). Moveable property of another
3). With purpose to deprive him thereof
MPC: Theft by deception = false pretenses
223.3
A person is guilty if he purposely obtains property of another by deception. A person deceives if he purposely:
(1) Creates or reinforces a false impression, including false pressions of law, value, intention, or other states of mind.
(2) Prevents another from acquiring information which would affect his judgement of the transaction
(3) Fails to correct a false impression which he previously created or reinforced, or which the deceiver knows to be influencing another to whom he stands in a fiduciary or confidential relationship.
Notes: 1. This only safeguards ownership, not possession
2). No materiality requirement, just reliance.
MPC (theft of Lost Property)
223.5
1. A person who knowingly controls lost property,
2. with purpose to deprive the owner thereof,
3. he fails to take reasonable measures to restore the property
4. to a person entitled to have it.
Unlike the common law, here there is an obligation to take at least some actions to try to find the true owner.
Robbery (CL)
Robbery: Larceny + 2
- For possession in the robbery context, we only look to see that the victim has a greater right to the item then you do.
1. Trespassory
2. Taking
3. And Carrying Away
4. Of the Personal Property
5. Of another
6. With intent to steal (intent to permanently deprive)
7. The property is taken from the person or his presence
- The property has to be something within the victim’s control
- This includes his immediate area (think of his store)
8. Taking is accomplished by means of force or fear
- The force need only be enough to overcome resistance
(de-clasping neckless = not enough. Breaking necklace = enough)
- Threats must be of immediate apprehension and must be reasonable to entice them to give the property.
- Threats can be to hurt the person, someone else, or something else.
- The force needs to be during the taking, later force won’t count. (some courts go further though)
Robbery (MPC)
MPC 222.1 – Robbery
- Must be intent to permanently deprive
If while committing, attempting, or fleeing a theft, the defendant commits robbery if he:
(a) Inflicts serious bodily injury (injury which creates a substantial risk of death or which causes serious, permanent disfigurement, or impairment of the function of any bodily member/organ) upon another (or)
(b) Threatens another with or purposefully puts him in fear of immediate serious bodily injury (or)
(c) Commits or threatens immediately to commit any felony of the first or second degree.
Differences between MPC & CL robbery
Differences From Common Law:
1. Does not care if the victim has possession
2. Does not have a person or presence requirement (call your bank and give me money)
3. The force or threat must be such that it causes serious bodily harm, or is a 1st/2nd degree felony
4. The force can be before, during, or after and still count.
False Pretenses
False Pretenses: Offense against ownership
1. Obtain title to property by means of
- Must acquire ownership rather than possession
2. A false representation
- A false statement of past or present fact/ a false promise to perform.
(This excludes opinion, predictions, or puffery)
3. That is material
- It must be important to a reasonable person in deciding whether to engage in the transaction.
4. With intent to defraud
- You must know your representation is false, intend to rely on it, and not believe the property belongs to you.
(False pretenses does not apply when attempting to recover property you believe is yours.) – subjective – specific intent
- Where the victim actually relies when parting with the property
No reliance when: (1) victim knew the representation was false (or) (2) victim investigated themselves + relied on their investigation (or) (3) Victim parted with the property for a different reason.
- Representation does not need to be sole reason for reliance, only must impact reliance.
- Whight – cash out ATM – representation does not need to be verbal.
Theft (MPC) = Larceny/Embezz Notes
1). Unlawfully takes or exercises control over
- Basically, an exceeding of authorization, also, we moving it to get better access = taking.
- We don’t care if you intended to exceed at the time of taking or later,
2). Moveable property of another
- Any possessory/ownership interest, and includes overdrawing on your authorization of joint bank account
3). With purpose to deprive him thereof
- Same as “with intent to steal” from larceny.
Claim of right defense: if you subjectively believe it was abandoned or yours = affirmative defense. Also follows all permanence rules from larceny. In
