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LONGWORTH is a medical student with a keen interest in human anatomy. To satisfy her desire for experimentation she enters a university laboratory and takes a whole human body and several amputated and preserved body parts.
Which of the statements below is correct?
A LONGWORTH would be guilty of the theft of the human body and of the preserved body parts.
B LONGWORTH would only be guilty of the theft of the human body.
C LONGWORTH would be guilty of the theft of the preserved body parts.
D LONGWORTH would not be guilty of theft as human bodies and preserved body parts are not property for the purposes of s. 4 of the Theft Act 1968.
Explanation
Answer C — A person cannot steal a human body. Human bodies are not classed as property under the Theft Act 1968 (Doodeward v Spence (1908) 6 CLR 406) unless some work has been carried out on the body for preservation or for a scientific purpose. This makes answers A and B incorrect. This conclusion was reached in R v Kelly [1999] QB 621, where body parts taken from the Royal College of Surgeons were classed as stolen. This makes answer D incorrect.
Which of the statements below is correct?
A LONGWORTH would be guilty of the theft of the human body and of the preserved body parts.
B LONGWORTH would only be guilty of the theft of the human body.
C LONGWORTH would be guilty of the theft of the preserved body parts.
D LONGWORTH would not be guilty of theft as human bodies and preserved body parts are not property for the purposes of s. 4 of the Theft Act 1968.
Explanation
Answer C — A person cannot steal a human body. Human bodies are not classed as property under the Theft Act 1968 (Doodeward v Spence (1908) 6 CLR 406) unless some work has been carried out on the body for preservation or for a scientific purpose. This makes answers A and B incorrect. This conclusion was reached in R v Kelly [1999] QB 621, where body parts taken from the Royal College of Surgeons were classed as stolen. This makes answer D incorrect.