Commercial Law

Table of Contents

Commercial Law1

Highlights of the important points of the case given above1

Personal property3

Dishonesty3

Theft Act 19685

Theft Act 19686

The entitlement of goods9

Case laws11

Mr Dolphin v Hinks,11

Lawrence v. Metropolitan Police Commissioner11

R v. Morris12

End Notes13

Commercial Law

Commercial Law

Commercial Law or Business Law is a branch of the civil law in the UK. It covers many components of crimes. The day to day operation of the business is covered under the law. In addition, it covers the customers of businesses to whom the business sells their products. In particular, it covers the sale and purchase of goods. The commercial law branches out into the following laws listed hereunder.

Trades description law

Copyright and intellectual property law

Company structure law

Tax law

Consumer credit law

Health and safety law

Contract law

Highlights of the important points of the case given above

The important points of the case are summarized hereunder.

Tom is an employee of Harriet.

Harriet has provided Tom with a bicycle which he does not own but can use.

His job description is to collect various items from a shop nearby.

The saddle bag that he uses to carry the goods from the shop has a hole into it.

Harriet is aware of the whole in the saddle bag, and she informs Tom about it too.

A watch of hers went missing, presumably through the hole.

The watch is not something that she cares about. She does not mind that the watch has been misplaced.

She says that the watch does not function properly and anyone who finds it may keep it.

Tom was also asked to ride on his way back home from the neighbour's land.

He finds the wat6ch lying by the side of the road.

He even finds a bracelet lying near the landslide.

He takes them both to a shopkeeper for valuation.

He comes out of the shop only to find that his bicycle was missing.

He also finds out that the shopkeeper has misplaces the bracelet, instead lost it.

Any conclusion drawn on the entitlement of the chattels will be based on the aforementioned facts. The items that need consideration in this case come in the category of personal property. Hence, we may define personal property in the light of the law.

Personal property

Personal property as suggested by name is a private property of a person. The other two names for personal property in the common law are personalty and chattels. A common characteristic of a personal property is that it is movable. Hence, the property can be moved between two points. A form of immovable property such as building and land is not included in the personal property. They come in the ambit of real estate and real property.

The challenge in this case is to address whether the act of the employee Tom, regarding his picking up items that originally did not belong to him, was legal or not. In addition, it is important to assess if the act can come under theft and ...