Abstract

Legally, the crime of theft requires the act to target "movable property" belonging to another, possessing a corporeal entity, and being susceptible to ownership and material or moral value, regardless of the legality of its possession or trade. The human body per se is excluded from the subject matter of theft, unless natural parts thereof—such as hair—have been severed. Likewise, abstract ideas and intangible rights cannot independently constitute the subject matter of theft unless embodied in tangible instruments. The legislature has recognized "captured forces"—such as water, gas, and electricity—as valid subject matters of theft, considering them forms of energy subject to human control and possessing a corporeal nature capable of being possessed and transmitted. Theft is perpetrated by appropriating water or electricity from conduits or pipes, circumventing meters, or exceeding agreed-upon quantities.

Keywords

Theft; Captured Forces; Movable Property; Material Element; Intent to Appropriate; Jordanian Penal Code.