Divisional Courts
| Published date | 01 August 1981 |
| Date | 01 August 1981 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002201838104500302 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Divisional
Courts
Comments
on
Cases
THEfT
AND
MISTAKE
Kaur v.
Chief
Constable for Hampshire
The resolution of problems in criminal cases often involves reference to
and the application of principles of civil law. This is particularly so
in relation to cases involving charges
of
theft, contrary to section 1 of
the Theft Act 1968, where a person has acquired another's property as
a result of a mistake on that other's part. Theft requires, inter alia, the
dishonest appropriation of property belonging to another and the precise
nature of any mistake made by the transferor of property at the time of
transfer may be a vital factor in determining to whom that property
belongs thereafter.
This was the central issue in the present case,
(I
981, The Times,
Jan 30th), where the defendant bought a pair of shoes in a sale, having
selected them from a rack marked £6-99p. However, whilst one shoe
was marked £6-99p, the other was marked £4-99p, a price which the
defendant knew to be incorrect. She openly presented them to the
store's cashier, and when asked for the lower price, duly paid it. She
was stopped by a store detective as she left the store and was later
charged with theft. The Southampton justices found that the cashier
had no authority to accept on behalf of the retailer an offer to buy
shoes for £4-99p, and that, as the defendant knew that that was not the
correct price, the contract was void. Consequently, as the transaction
did not convey ownership to the defendant, she was held to have dis-
honestly appropriated the property of the store and was convicted.
The defendant successfully appealed against conviction to the
Queen's Bench Divisional Court which decided that the justices had
erred. The court considered that the cashier had the authority to sell
shoes for the price on the ticket and the fact that she chose the lower
120
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