What is the definition of stealing???

Question

Is stealing taking something that isn't yours?....or is it taking something that you've no idea whom it belongs to?...

If it's the first definition then why do people claim they're not stealing when they pick up a quarter off the sidewalk?

Answer 1

taking something with out the the permission and consent of the owner

Answer 2

Stealing is taking something that you know does not belong to you when the owner is or could be known to you or taking something you know has not been lost and there is a rightful owner. It matters not what the value of the item is if you take it knowing you have no moral or legal claim to it you are stealing. The most stolen item is time. I am now retired, but through the years when trying to explain to an employee that if you are paid for eight hours work and goof off four hours you have stolen from the employer. Theft is so common in our society today that it has become acceptable. I recall once when I was serving as an Administrator for a church I noticed as soon as I arrived the office supply expenses seem to be very high. I immediately had all supplies locked in a closet and only one person had a key. I was shocked myself that with the small staff we had the cost of supplies went down nearly $10,000 in one year. No one in that office would consider themselves a thief nor would I have thought of them as a thief, but the fact remains they were thieves. It amazes me that the most stolen book from book stores in the U.S.A. is the Bible. It has become easy for us to justify and redefine our taking of things that do not belong to us, but when we do we are stealing and it makes us a thief.

Answer 3

Stealing is taking something that belongs to someone else without permission. A quarter is the property of the US government to be used by it's citizens. If found in a parking lot without any way to know who dropped it....any person who finds it may use the quarter as legal tender for your own use.

Answer 4

Property is theft (French: La propriété, c'est le vol!) is a slogan coined by the French anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
steal
verb stole (past tense), stolen (past participle), stealing (present participle)

tr & intr
1. To take away (another person's property) without permission or legal right, especially secretly.

Thesaurus: filch, thieve, loot, rob, purloin, embezzle, rifle, poach, swindle, pillage, pilfer; Antonym: return.
2. To obtain something by cleverness or trickery.

Example: steal a kiss
3. To fraudulently present (another person's work, ideas, etc) as one's own.
intr
4. To go stealthily.

Example: stole down to the basement
STEAL - the wrongful or willful taking of money or property belonging to someone else with intent to deprive the owner of its use or benefit either temporarily or permanently. No particular type of movement or carrying away is required.

Any appreciable change in the location of the property with the necessary willful intent constitutes a stealing whether or not there is any actual removal of it from the owner's premises.

This term imports, ex vi termini, nearly the same as larceny; but in common parlance, it does not always import a felony; as, for example, you stole an acre of my land.

In slander cases, it seems that the term stealing takes its complexion from the subject-matter to which it is applied, and will be considered as intended of a felonious stealing, if a felony could have been committed of such subject-matter.

Answer 5

Stealing is taking something that is not yours, something that you know belongs to someone else. It is stealing if the rightful owner would notice its absence and mourn for its loss (assuming the owner is of sound mind). However, if there is no hope of reasonably finding the rightful owner, then its up for grabs. Unless you want to be stupid and put an ad in the paper advertising "Found Quarter".

Answer 6

Taking something that isn't yours without the consent of the owner.

There's no owner for the quarter on the sidewalk, so I guess it isn't stealing. It's lost and found.

Answer 7

Finding vs stealing vs robbing. Did I find a quarter on the sidewalk or did I find it in the coat pocket of a co-worker, or did I shove the little kid down and wrench the quarter out of her pudgy little fist?

At work, I left a newly opened jar of Marmalade in our shared kitchen - I had used it once and it's gone - missing - kaput - did someone steal it for their own use? Did someone think it was old and toss it out? What do you call that?

Answer 8

Stealing is when you take something that is sentimental or of value that belongs to another person and you are aware of what you are doing.... and then theres "its not stealing unless you get caught"- well true if you can live with the fact that your not legit....

Anywho, don't steal... it just makes everyone elses lives more difficult, but if you do steal don't lie when you get caught...

Answer 9

Because, it's in the possession of "no one" so it's not like your'e takeing directly from someone. But if it was like a thousand dollars, I would feel really guilty if I didn't turn the money in.

Answer 10

stealing is opposite of creating or earning.