Theft - Next Generation Bar Exam

1. What is the effect of an intent to return the property on a larceny charge?

   It negates the intent to permanently deprive, unless the taking creates a substantial risk of permanent loss. Taking property intending to pay for it later may still be larceny if it was not for sale.

2. How do modern consolidated theft statutes treat larceny, embezzlement, and false pretenses?

   As a single offense of theft. Consolidation eliminates technical distinctions between the forms of acquisition.

3. What is the effect of a good-faith claim of right to the property on a theft charge?

   It negates the intent to steal. The belief need only be honest, not reasonable.

4. What are the elements of receiving stolen property?

   Receiving stolen property, knowing it is stolen, with intent to permanently deprive the owner. Property recovered by police before receipt is no longer stolen at common law.

5. What is larceny by trick?

   Obtaining possession, but not title, of another's property by fraud. The fraud makes the taking trespassory.

6. A buyer pays for a car with a check he knows will bounce, and the seller transfers title. Which crime has the buyer committed?

   False pretenses. The seller intended to pass title in reliance on the buyer's misrepresentation.

7. What are the elements of larceny?

   A trespassory taking and carrying away of the personal property of another with intent to permanently deprive. The intent must exist at the time of the taking.

8. When does a finder of lost property commit larceny?

   When, at the time of finding, the finder knows or has reason to know how to find the owner and intends to keep it. Intent formed later does not make the finding larceny.

9. What is embezzlement?

   The fraudulent conversion of another's property by a person in lawful possession of it. The defendant's initial possession is lawful, unlike in larceny.

10. What is the continuing-trespass doctrine?

    If a taking is initially wrongful but without intent to steal, the trespass continues and larceny occurs when intent to steal forms. The doctrine does not apply if the initial taking was lawful.

11. A customer takes a car on a test drive, intending never to return it, and drives away for good. Which crime has the customer committed?

    Larceny by trick. The dealer gave only temporary possession, which the customer obtained by fraud.

12. What is false pretenses?

    Obtaining title to property by a knowingly false representation of a material fact, with intent to defraud. The victim must intend to pass title, not merely possession.

13. What is the theft liability of an employee who has only custody of the employer's property and takes it for himself?

    Larceny, because the employer retained possession. Low-level employees typically have custody, while those entrusted with broad authority may have possession.

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