ABSTRACT
The Theft Act 1968 was an attempt to write a new and simple code for the law of theft and related offences. It made sweeping and fundamental changes to the law that had developed prior to 1968. The Act was based on the Eighth Report of the Criminal Law Revision Committee, Theft and Related Offences, Cmnd 2977 (1966). Previous Acts were repealed and the 1968 Act was meant to provide a complete code of the law in this area. The Act is intended to be
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‘expressed in simple language, as used and understood by ordinary literate men and women. It avoids as far as possible those terms of art which have acquired a special meaning understood only by lawyers in which many of the penal enactments were couched.’
