The Elements Required for Establishing the Offense of Stealing

In ancient times, the crime of stealing required the combination of three factors: intention, bodily action, and the object leaving its original place; if any one was missing, the offense was not established. If one moved an object elsewhere without intent, it did not count as stealing; if one had the intent and used the body to steal, but the object did not leave its original place, it did not count as stealing; if one had the intent to steal and the object left its original place, but one did not take it with one's own body—having someone else take it on one's behalf—it still counted as stealing; or if one used mantras to make the object leave its original place, it counted as stealing; or if one used mental power, supernatural powers, and other such means to make the object leave its original place, it counted as stealing. Apart from these, it did not count as stealing.

In modern society, stolen objects also include those without physical form, which do not involve the requirement of the object leaving its original place. But if the ownership or right of use of the object ultimately becomes one's own, this also counts as a form of the object leaving its original place, and thus constitutes stealing—the "original place" refers to the place of the original owner.

Modern technology is highly developed, so one can steal without using the body. Objects can be not only tangible and visible but also intangible and formless, such as information, technology, software, documents, patents, and so on, including stealing fame—stealing reputation, credit, awards, resources, and the like. In such cases, although the object has not left its original place, the information has entered one's own mind, and the reputation, fame, technology, and so on have been transferred and become one's own possession—that counts as stealing. Or copying information and text also counts as stealing. Any act of appropriation without the permission of the original owner constitutes stealing.

In a fiercely competitive society, groups large and small at every level, in order to compete for human resources, material resources, and technological and informational resources, resort to every conceivable means. Any forcible appropriation that the other party does not permit and guards against constitutes stealing. In particular, spies between nations—whose very profession is the profession of stealing—operate with extreme secrecy.