Study guide
11.4 Receiving Stolen Property
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1 Introduction & FYLSE Examination Guide
1.1 FYLSE Exam Structure, Passing Standard & Administration 1.2 Study Method, Pacing & MBE-Style Technique
2 Contracts: Mutual Assent, Capacity & Contract Formation
2.1 The Offer & Objective Theory of Assent 2.2 Termination & Irrevocability of Offers 2.3 Acceptance & the Mailbox Rule 2.4 Mirror Image Rule & UCC 2-207 Battle of the Forms 2.5 Mistake in Contract Formation 2.6 Fraud, Duress, Undue Influence & Illegality 2.7 Capacity to Contract
3 Contracts: Consideration, Estoppel & Implied Obligations
3.1 Consideration & the Bargained-For Exchange 3.2 Past & Moral Consideration, Pre-Existing Duty & Modification 3.3 Promissory Estoppel & Detrimental Reliance 3.4 Implied-in-Fact Contracts & Quasi-Contract 3.5 Implied Covenant of Good Faith, Fair Dealing & Indefinite Terms
4 Contracts: Third-Party Beneficiaries, Assignment & Delegation
4.1 Third-Party Beneficiary Contracts 4.2 Assignment of Rights 4.3 Delegation of Duties
5 Contracts: Statute of Frauds, Parol Evidence & Interpretation
5.1 Statute of Frauds: Contracts Within the Statute 5.2 Satisfying the Statute: Writing, Signature & Exceptions 5.3 The Parol Evidence Rule 5.4 Contract Interpretation & Canons of Construction
6 Contracts: Performance, Conditions, UCC Warranties & Breach
6.1 Conditions: Express, Constructive & Excuse 6.2 Substantial Performance vs. Perfect Tender 6.3 Cure, Rejection, Revocation & Installment Contracts 6.4 UCC Article 2 Warranties & Risk of Loss 6.5 Anticipatory Repudiation & Insecurity
7 Contracts: Remedies, Discharge & Changed Circumstances
7.1 Expectation Damages & Their Limitations 7.2 Reliance, Restitution & Liquidated Damages 7.3 Specific Performance & Injunctive Relief 7.4 UCC Article 2 Buyer's and Seller's Remedies 7.5 Impossibility, Impracticability & Frustration of Purpose 7.6 Discharge by Agreement: Rescission, Novation & Accord and Satisfaction
8 Criminal Law: Principles of Criminal Liability & Mens Rea
8.1 Actus Reus, Voluntary Acts & Omissions 8.2 Criminal Causation & Intervening Causes 8.3 Common Law & Model Penal Code Mens Rea 8.4 Mistake of Fact, Mistake of Law & Concurrence
9 Criminal Law: Inchoate Offenses & Accomplice Liability
9.1 Criminal Attempt & Impossibility 9.2 Solicitation & the Merger Doctrine 9.3 Conspiracy & Merger Doctrine 9.4 Accomplice Liability: Actus Reus & Mens Rea 9.5 Scope of Accomplice Liability, Withdrawal & Parties to Crime
10 Criminal Law: Homicide & Crimes Against the Person
10.1 Common Law Murder & Malice Aforethought 10.2 Degrees of Murder, Premeditation & Deliberation 10.3 The Felony Murder Rule & Its Limitations 10.4 Voluntary & Involuntary Manslaughter 10.5 Non-Homicide Crimes Against the Person
11 Criminal Law: Property Crimes, Theft & Habitation
11.1 Common Law Larceny 11.2 Embezzlement & False Pretenses 11.3 Robbery & Extortion 11.4 Receiving Stolen Property 11.5 Burglary 11.6 Arson
12 Criminal Law: Defenses: Capacity, Justification & Excuse
12.1 Insanity: The Four Legal Tests 12.2 Intoxication, Diminished Capacity & Infancy 12.3 Self-Defense & Defense of Others 12.4 Defense of Property, Habitation & Law Enforcement Privileges 12.5 Duress & Necessity 12.6 Entrapment & Mistake as an Excuse
13 Torts: Intentional Torts to Persons & Property
13.1 Intent, Motive & Incapacity in Intentional Torts 13.2 Transferred Intent 13.3 Battery & Assault 13.4 False Imprisonment 13.5 Trespass to Land 13.6 Trespass to Chattels & Conversion
14 Torts: Privileges & Defenses to Intentional Torts
14.1 Consent: Express, Implied & Capacity 14.2 Exceeding & Vitiating Consent 14.3 Self-Defense & Defense of Others (Tort) 14.4 Defense of Property & Recapture of Chattels 14.5 Public & Private Necessity 14.6 The Shopkeeper's Privilege
15 Torts: Negligence — Duty of Care & Breach
15.1 Duty of Care & the Foreseeable Plaintiff 15.2 Affirmative Duties to Act & Special Relationships 15.3 Standard of Care: The Reasonable Person & Children 15.4 Professional Negligence, Informed Consent & Negligence Per Se 15.5 Land Possessor Liability & Premises Duties 15.6 Breach of Duty & Res Ipsa Loquitur
16 Torts: Causation, Defenses, Multiple Tortfeasors, Wrongful Death & Damages
16.1 Cause in Fact & Multiple Actors 16.2 Proximate Cause & Intervening Forces 16.3 Contributory, Comparative Negligence & Assumption of Risk 16.4 Joint and Several Liability, Contribution & Indemnity 16.5 Vicarious Liability & Non-Delegable Duties 16.6 Wrongful Death & Survival Actions 16.7 Statute of Limitations & Claim Accrual 16.8 Tort Damages: Compensatory, Nominal, Punitive & Mitigation
17 Torts: Strict Liability & Products Liability
17.1 Strict Liability for Animals 17.2 Abnormally Dangerous Activities & Scope of Risk 17.3 Strict Products Liability & Defect Categories 17.4 Products Liability Under Negligence, Warranty & Misrepresentation 17.5 Defenses to Products Liability
18 Torts: Emotional Distress, Defamation, Privacy & Economic Torts
18.1 Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress 18.2 Negligent Infliction of Emotional Distress 18.3 Common Law Defamation: Elements, Libel & Slander 18.4 Constitutional Limits, Privileges & Defenses to Defamation 18.5 Invasion of Privacy 18.6 Nuisance & Economic Torts
11.4 Receiving Stolen Property
Key Takeaways Explain This Topic AI
Receiving stolen property requires receiving control of stolen personal property, knowledge that it was stolen, and intent to permanently deprive the owner.
Constructive receipt suffices, so arranging for goods to be delivered to a third party or a storage unit satisfies the receipt element.
The defendant must actually know or believe the goods were stolen, and mere negligence in failing to inquire is generally not enough at common law.
Under the police-recovery rule, goods recovered by law enforcement lose their stolen character, so a defendant who then receives them commits only attempt.
This is one of the clearest illustrations of legal impossibility, because the completed act is no longer criminal once the goods cease to be stolen.
Last updated: September 2026
- Receiving Stolen Property
- 4. Receiving Stolen Property: Elements & Doctrinal Pitfalls
- Statutory Framework
Receiving stolen property is a statutory offense designed to eliminate the secondary market for stolen goods by criminalizing the conduct of "fences" and downstream purchasers.
- The Four Core Elements
- Receiving possession and control ;
- Of stolen personal property ;
- Knowing the property to have been stolen by another person; and
With the specific intent to permanently deprive the rightful owner of their property. [ Possession/Control ] + [ Stolen Character ] + [ Knowledge at Receipt ] + [ Animus Furandi ] = Receiving Stolen Property
Element 1: Receiving Possession and Control
Physical touch is not required; constructive possession is fully sufficient. A defendant "receives" stolen property when the defendant exercises dominion and control over it, or directs an agent, confederate, or buyer to take delivery of the property at a designated storage facility.
Element 2: Stolen Personal Property & The Police Recovery Rule
The property must possess the status of stolen property at the exact instant the defendant receives it .
The Fundamental Rule: Property remains "stolen" only until it is recovered by the true owner or by law enforcement officers acting on the owner's behalf.
The Police Trap: Once police intercept, seize, or recover stolen property, the property permanently loses its stolen character as a matter of law .
Exam Application: If police seize stolen diamonds from a burglar, and with the owner's consent, use an undercover officer to deliver the diamonds to a fence who enthusiastically purchases them believing they were stolen an hour ago, the fence cannot be convicted of completed receiving stolen property .
Proper Conviction: Because the fence possessed the specific intent to purchase stolen goods and performed an overt act toward completion, the fence is guilty of attempted receiving stolen property . Factual impossibility is no defense to criminal attempt!
Element 3: The Knowledge Standard
The defendant must know the property was stolen at the time of receipt :
Knowledge Required: Actual subjective knowledge or willful blindness (conscious avoidance) satisfies the mens rea. If a defendant is aware of a high probability that an item is stolen (e.g., buying a brand-new $5,000 Rolex watch in an alley at 3:00 AM for $100 with the serial numbers filed off) and deliberately avoids inquiring to maintain plausible deniability, knowledge is established as a matter of law.
Negligence Insufficient: Mere civil negligence—that a reasonable person would or should have known the goods were stolen—is legally insufficient for this specific intent crime.
Concurrence: Knowledge must exist at the time of receipt. If an individual buys a laptop in good faith believing it to be legitimate, and discovers three weeks later that it was stolen, retaining the laptop is not receiving stolen property at common law (though continuing retention after knowledge may violate modern statutes).
Element 4: Specific Intent to Permanently Deprive
The receiver must intend to permanently deprive the true owner of the chattel. If a defendant receives stolen goods solely with the intent to return them to the rightful owner or turn them over to the police, no criminal liability attaches.
V. Modern Statutory Treatment and Evidentiary Inferences
Most modern codes have consolidated receiving stolen property into a general theft statute, grading the offense by the value of the goods rather than by the manner of acquisition. Three practical consequences follow:
Continuing retention. At common law knowledge had to exist at the moment of receipt, so an innocent buyer who later learned the truth committed no offense. Many modern statutes close this gap by criminalising retaining property known to be stolen, so the later-acquired knowledge does create liability.
Dealers held to a higher standard. Statutes regulating pawnbrokers, scrap dealers, and second-hand dealers often impose a presumption of knowledge where the dealer failed to keep required records or to check identification.
Consolidated grading. Because the offense is graded by value, the prosecution must prove the market value of the goods at the time and place of the offense.
The Recently-Stolen-Property Inference
Unexplained possession of recently stolen property permits, but does not require, the trier of fact to infer that the possessor knew the goods were stolen. It is a permissive inference , not a presumption, and it does not shift the burden of proof. Two limits are tested:
The possession must be recent relative to the theft; the longer the interval, the weaker the inference.
A plausible innocent explanation — a receipt, a documented purchase from a legitimate store — defeats it.
VI. Relationship to the Other Theft Offenses
- Offense What the defendant did Relationship
- Larceny Took the goods from the owner The thief
- Receiving stolen property Took the goods from the thief The fence
Both? No. The thief cannot be convicted of receiving the property he himself stole; the offenses are alternatives, not cumulative.
That last rule is the most frequently tested trap in this topic. A defendant who burgles a house and then stores the loot in his own garage has committed burglary and larceny, not receiving stolen property — he received nothing from anyone.
Exam pattern: A fact pattern gives you a defendant who buys a laptop from a stranger in a parking lot for a tenth of its value, with the serial number ground off. The correct analysis is not that the defendant should have known ; it is that these circumstances establish willful blindness , which the law treats as actual knowledge. An answer choice framed in terms of what a reasonable person would have suspected states a negligence standard and is wrong.