ABSTRACT
The starting point of any consideration of the law relating to theft should be the Criminal Law Revision Committee’s Eighth Report on Theft and Related Offences (Cmnd 2977, 1966). The TA 1968 was based upon the Committee’s recommendations and although we have seen that there has been a reluctance on the part of the House of Lords to use the report as an aid to construction it does provide the foundation knowledge needed for a study of this branch of the criminal law. We have seen that, over the past three and half decades, the law has become increasingly complex and, in some cases, fraught with uncertainty (see the whole issue of appropriation and consent), which has led judges such as Beldam LJ to call for urgent reform.
