R v Lloyd

Ratio Decidendi

তথ্য

Lloyd was a projectionist at a cinema who, over a period, secretly removed feature films from the cinema for a few hours at a time and handed them to accomplices, who made illicit master copies from which pirate videos could be produced. Each film was returned to the cinema in good time and undamaged, so that its absence went unnoticed and it could be shown as normal. Lloyd and the others were charged with conspiracy to steal the films.

রায়ের সারসংক্ষেপ

The Court of Appeal quashed the convictions for conspiracy to steal. Lord Lane CJ held that there was no intention permanently to deprive the owner of the films within s.6 of the Theft Act 1968: the films were always going to be — and were — returned intact and still fully usable, so the cinema was not deprived of the films or of their 'goodness or virtue'. A borrowing can be equivalent to an outright taking only where the property is returned in such a changed state that all its goodness or practical value has gone (as with a returned but spent season ticket). Since the physical films retained all their value and could still be shown, the temporary borrowing — however dishonest, and whatever loss the copyright owners suffered — was not theft of the films. The case is the leading authority on the meaning of 'intention permanently to deprive' and the limits of s.6.

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