Critically Analyzing the Issue of Appropriation in the Case of Darroux: A Legal Review

Zach Leggett in his case comment, .Leggett Z. Court of Appeal: Theft: Appropriation through submitting false claims? Darroux v R [2018] EWCA Crim 1009. The Journal of Criminal Law. 2018;82(4):287-291, discusses the case of Darroux and the issue of appropriation of property.

Critically analyse the key arguments advanced by Leggett and justify and evidence your argument as to whether you agree or not with his conclusion that:

Ultimately, the decision in Darroux takes a narrow view of appropriation which sits uneasily with cases such as Gomez and Hinks….It seems that the Court of Appeal is minded to create a distinction between theft and fraud and is reluctant to use s. 1 of the Theft Act 1968 as a catch-all offence. If the suggestion from Catherine Elliott is that R v Williams closed off some of the problematic loopholes created in Preddy, then by taking a strict approach in the current case, the Court of Appeal is potentially opening them back up again.

Please note that students will find the Leggett case comment, the Darroux judgment and two articles by Catherine Elliott on the Modules page of their canvas site under the essay question at the top of the page.

Identification of Issues - Students should demonstrate the ability accurately to identify the legal issues discussed in the article. The issue relates to appropriation.

Explanation of the Law - Students should demonstrate the ability to accurately explain the law being discussed in the case comment, referring to relevant legal authority including case-law and other academic journal articles, to support his explanation. Clearly student should read the Darroux judgment and the academic journal by Catherine Elliott, referred to above in Leggett’s conclusion and an additional article by Catherine Elliott in her article Theft: Appropriation and Remoteness Crim. L. 2004, 68(2), 103-105. The Leggett case comment, Darroux judgment and the two Elliott articles are on your Modules page of your canvas site at the top under Assessments. Students should also clearly understand the Hinks and Gomez judgments.

Identification of the key aspects of the analysis of the cases and of the main arguments put forward in the article - Students should demonstrate the ability to identify the key points the author makes in their analysis of the issues and identify and explain the most important cases discussed in the article

Evaluation of the arguments/criticisms advanced in the article - Students should discuss how persuasively the authors’ make their point that the Barton case was a missed opportunity to clarify the law.