R v Morris [1983] 3 All ER 288 FACTS: The defendant took items from a shelf in a self-service shop. He removed the correct price labels and replaced them with labels taken from lower-priced goods. At the checkout, the defendant paid the lower price for the items. He was arrested and subsequently convicted of theft. HELD: Both the Court of Appeal and the House of Lords dismissed his appeal against conviction. It was held that it is only necessary to assume one of the rights of the owner. It was the owner’s right to label his goods, so when Morris swapped the labels this was an appropriation. Two important points emerge from this case.
(1) The assumption of any one of the rights of an owner amounts to an appropriation.
(2) D may be guilty of theft although he does not intend by the act of appropriation itself to deprive P permanently of the property.