theft

A theft is the taking and removing of money or property with the intent to deprive the owner of it. Theft includes the taking of money or property in the following ways:

• Blackmail
• Burglary
• Embezzlement
• Extortion
• Kidnapping for Ransom
• Larceny
• Robbery
• Threats

Theft (?), n. [OE. thefte, AS. �xed;i'ef[eth]e, �xed;�xdf;f[eth]e, �xed;eof[eth]e. See Thief.]

1. Law

The act of stealing; specifically, the felonious taking and removing of personal property, with an intent to deprive the rightful owner of the same; larceny.

⇒ To constitute theft there must be a taking without the owner's consent, and it must be unlawful or felonious; every part of the property stolen must be removed, however slightly, from its former position; and it must be, at least momentarily, in the complete possession of the thief. See Larceny, and the Note under Robbery.

2.

The thing stolen.

[R.]

If the theft be certainly found in his hand alive, . . . he shall restore double. Ex. xxii. 4.

 

© Webster 1913.