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THEFT ACT (NORTHERN IRELAND) 1969 - SECT 4

""Property''.

4.(1) "Property" includes money and all other property, real or personal,
including things in action and other intangible property.

(2) A person cannot steal land, or things forming part of land and severed
from it by him or by his directions, except in the following cases, that is to
say

(a)when he is a trustee or personal representative, or is authorised by power
of attorney, or as liquidator of a company, or otherwise, to sell or dispose
of land belonging to another, and he appropriates the land or anything forming
part of it by dealing with it in breach of the confidence reposed in him; or

(b)when he is not in possession of the land and appropriates anything forming
part of the land by severing it or causing it to be severed, or after it has
been severed; or

(c)when, being in possession of the land under a tenancy, he appropriates the
whole or part of any fixture or structure let to be used with the land.

For purposes of this subsection, "land" does not include incorporeal
hereditaments; "tenancy" means a tenancy for years or any less period and
includes an agreement for such a tenancy, but a person who, after the end of a
tenancy, remains in possession as statutory tenant or otherwise is to be
treated as having possession under the tenancy, and "let" shall be construed
accordingly.

(3) A person who picks mushrooms growing wild on any land, or who picks
flowers, fruit or foliage from a plant growing wild on any land, does not
(although not in possession of the land) steal what he picks, unless he does
it for reward or for sale or other commercial purpose.

For purposes of this subsection, "mushroom" includes any fungus, and "plant"
includes any shrub or tree.

(4) Wild creatures, tamed or untamed, shall be regarded as property; but a
person cannot steal a wild creature not tamed nor ordinarily kept in
captivity, or the carcase of any such creature, unless either it has been
reduced into possession by or on behalf of another person and possession of it
has not since been lost or abandoned, or another person is in course of
reducing it into possession.

© 1969 Crown Copyright

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