The Theft Act 1968 (1968 c.60) is an Act of the UK Parliament, governing most of the general property offences in English law.

Contents

1 History 2 Offences Created 3 See Also 4 References

History

The Theft Act 1968 resulted from the efforts of the Criminal Law Revision Committee to reform the English law of theft. The Larceny Act 1916 had codified, various common law offences of taking, the most significant being that of larceny itself. While the law had been tinkered with in many respects, it failed to cover some important classes of criminal taking and was legally complicated.

The intention of the Theft Act 1968, was to replace the existing law of theft and other deception related property offences, by a single enactment, while at the same time putting the law on a principled footing.

The Act received Royal Assent on 26 July 1968.

Offences Created

A number of greatly simplified - or at least less complicated - offences were created which all incorporate the element of Dishonesty. In particular the variety of larcenies and conversion set out in the Larceny Act 1916 were brought into a single offence of theft.

Housebreaking and Burglary were simplified under the single heading of Burglary.

Abstracting Electricity - the "theft" of electricity which surprisingly was included in the 1916 Act was retained.

See Also

• Theft in English law
• Robbery in English law

References

• Criminal Law Revision Committee. 8th Report. Theft and Related Offences. Cmnd. 2977