Smith's Law of Theft has long been established as the standard work on the subject and is frequently cited in the Court of Appeal. Now in its ninth edition, the book provides a detailed and critical account of the law of theft and related dishonesty offences. It contains the full, amended text of relevant legislation (notably, the Theft Acts 1968, 1978, and 1996) together with a detailed analysis of the provisions of the statutes and the extensive case law which has grown up around them.
This ninth edition has been updated to take full account of the Fraud Act 2006. The new Act replaces numerous deception offences with new fraud offences, which has prompted substantial restructuring and rewriting of the book's chapters. Other significant developments which the new edition provides extensive coverage on include: hinks in the House of Lords on theft and gifts; jurisdictional issues arising from Smith; and new procedural issues arising from the fraud protocol and the imminent introduction of judge only trials.
A whole new chapter on conspiracy to defraud is included in the new edition, and the full text of the Fraud Act and the fraud protocol are included in the appendices.