Lawrence v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis

Factual and Procedural Background

The Appellant, a taxicab driver, was convicted on 2 December 1969 of theft under section 1(1) of the Theft Act 1968. On 1 September 1969 a Victim, an Italian visitor with little English, arrived at The City’s main railway station and asked the Appellant to drive him to an address in The City’s Ladbroke Grove district. After the Victim handed the Appellant one pound, the Appellant removed a further six pounds from the still-open wallet and completed the short journey. The lawful fare was approximately 10s 6d.

The Appellant was charged with stealing the six pounds. The Crown Court convicted him; the Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal but certified two questions of general public importance and granted leave to appeal to the House of Lords. The present opinion is the final appellate disposition of that appeal.

Legal Issues Presented

1. Whether section 1(1) of the Theft Act 1968 should be construed as though it contained the words “without the consent of the owner” or similar language.
2. Whether sections 1(1) (theft) and 15(1) (obtaining property by deception) of the Theft Act 1968 are mutually exclusive, so that facts sufficient for section 15(1) can never sustain a conviction under section 1(1).

Arguments of the Parties

Appellant's Arguments

• The Victim “permitted” the Appellant to take the money; therefore, the taking was with consent and could not constitute theft.
• Section 1(1) should be read as implicitly requiring proof that the appropriation occurred without the owner’s consent.
• If the facts suggested deception, the proper charge lay under section 15(1), rendering a section 1(1) conviction unlawful.

Respondent's Arguments

This information was not available in the provided opinion.

Table of Precedents Cited

No precedents were cited in the provided opinion.

Court's Reasoning and Analysis

Writing for the majority, Judge Dilhorne (with Judges Donovan, Pearson, Diplock and Cross concurring) held that Parliament’s deliberate omission of the phrase “without the consent of the owner” from section 1(1) relieved the prosecution of any obligation to prove lack of consent. The court endorsed the Court of Appeal’s four-element formulation of theft: (i) dishonest, (ii) appropriation, (iii) of property belonging to another, (iv) with intent permanently to deprive.

The appropriation element was satisfied because the Appellant assumed the rights of an owner by removing money from the Victim’s wallet. Any purported consent related only to the issue of dishonesty under section 2(1): if the Appellant honestly believed the Victim would have agreed to the appropriation with full knowledge, he would not be dishonest. On the evidence, no such belief was established and the act was plainly dishonest.

The property clearly “belonged to another” at the moment of appropriation; the Appellant’s argument that ownership passed with consent failed because ownership is assessed at the time of taking, not after. The intent permanently to deprive was undisputed.

On the second certified question, the House found nothing in the Theft Act to render sections 1(1) and 15(1) mutually exclusive. Overlap between offences is common; prosecutors may elect either charge where the facts permit. In the present case, charging under section 1(1) was entirely proper.

Accordingly, none of the certified questions undermined the conviction and no miscarriage of justice was shown.

Holding and Implications

Appeal dismissed; conviction affirmed.

The decision confirms that lack of consent is no longer an element of theft under the Theft Act 1968; it affects only the assessment of dishonesty. The ruling also clarifies that offences under sections 1(1) and 15(1) can overlap, leaving prosecutorial discretion intact. No new precedent was explicitly set, but the judgment provides authoritative guidance on statutory interpretation of the Theft Act for future cases.