Study guide
11.3 Robbery & Extortion
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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
11.3 Robbery & Extortion
Key Takeaways Explain This Topic AI
Robbery is larceny from the person or presence of the victim accomplished by force or by intimidation.
Every element of larceny must be present, so a good-faith claim of right negates robbery just as it negates larceny.
Force must be more than the effort needed to move the item, so ordinary pickpocketing is larceny rather than robbery unless the victim resists.
Force or threat must occur at the time of the taking, though under the modern escape rule force used to retain the property during immediate flight can suffice.
Extortion operates through threats of future harm and does not require that the victim be present, and at common law the offense was complete on the making of the threat.
Last updated: September 2026
Robbery & Extortion
Exam Snapshot: Robbery, extortion, and receiving stolen property frequently test the subtle boundaries of physical force, temporal proximity, and mental culpability. The FYLSE repeatedly probes whether a pickpocketing encounter escalates into robbery through victim resistance or flight, whether coercive demands involve immediate threats of bodily harm (robbery) versus future or reputational exposure (extortion), and the doctrinal consequences when undercover law enforcement officers deploy recovered stolen goods in a sting operation.
- 1. Common Law Robbery: Elements & Aggravated Larceny Framework
- The Compound Nature of Robbery
Common law robbery is an aggravated species of larceny. It combines property deprivation with a personal assault or battery. Robbery is defined as the trespassory taking and carrying away of the personal property of another from the person or presence of the victim, by force or intimidation, with the specific intent to permanently deprive the owner thereof . [ Larceny Elements (Taking + Asportation + Property of Another + Animus Furandi) ]
- +
- [ From Person or Presence ] + [ By Force or Intimidation (Fear) ]
- =
- ROBBERY
- The Essential Dependency on Larceny
Because robbery is an aggravated form of larceny, every single element of common law larceny must be satisfied . If any foundational larceny element fails, a robbery charge cannot stand:
Claim of Right: If a defendant uses physical force to recover a specific chattel that the defendant honestly believes belongs to them, the defendant lacks animus furandi . In a traditional common-law jurisdiction, this honest claim of right negates specific intent, barring a conviction for robbery (though the defendant remains guilty of assault and battery).
Asportation: There must be some movement of the property. If the defendant threatens a victim at gunpoint, commands the victim to hand over a wallet, but the victim drops the wallet and the defendant flees without touching or moving it, the crime is attempted robbery, not completed robbery.
The "Person or Presence" Requirement
The stolen property must be taken either directly from the victim's physical person or from within the victim's immediate "presence":
From the Person: Property attached to, held by, or integrated with the victim's physical body (e.g., clothing, jewelry worn on the wrist, a purse held in the hand, or a wallet in a pocket).
From the Presence: The common law defines presence broadly: property is in the victim's presence if it is within the victim's reach, observation, inspection, or immediate control , such that the victim could have prevented the taking or retained possession had force or intimidation not been used.
Illustrative Scenarios: Tying up a homeowner in the living room and walking down the hall into the bedroom to steal jewelry; forcing a bank manager at gunpoint in the lobby to provide the combination to a basement vault while an accomplice opens the safe. In both cases, the property was within the victim's legal presence.
- 2. Force or Intimidation: Physical Mechanics & The Timing Rule
- Force vs. Stealth: The Pickpocketing Boundary
The line between larceny and robbery is determined by how physical force was applied to effectuate the taking:
Pure Stealth (Larceny): Secretly lifting a wallet from an unsuspecting victim's trousers, or swiftly slipping a phone out of an unzipped purse without the victim feeling any resistance, is larceny . The mere physical effort required to lift the weight of the property does not constitute force for robbery.
Resistance and Struggle (Robbery): If the victim becomes aware of the theft and actively resists—such as clutching the purse, pulling back, or struggling over a strap—and the defendant applies physical force to overpower that resistance, the encounter is robbery .
Breaking Attachments (Robbery): If an item is pinned or securely attached to the victim's person (e.g., ripping a diamond brooch pinned to a lapel, tearing a necklace from a neck, or yanking a purse with sufficient violence to snap a leather shoulder strap), the force required to break the attachment satisfies the force element of robbery.
Chemical Force: Administering a drug, narcotic, or intoxicant to render the victim unconscious or physically incapacitated prior to taking property constitutes force.
Intimidation (Threat of Immediate Harm)
Where physical violence is absent, intimidation (placing the victim in fear) satisfies the requirement, provided strict criteria are met:
Nature of the Threat: The threat must be of immediate death or serious bodily injury .
Recipient of the Threat: The threat must be directed against: (a) the victim, (b) a member of the victim's immediate family, or (c) a third person in the victim's immediate presence (e.g., pointing a gun at a customer in a convenience store to force the clerk to surrender cash).
Threats Insufficient for Robbery: A threat of future physical violence ("give me $500 now or I will beat you up next weekend") or a threat of property damage ("give me your watch or I will break your car windshield tomorrow") cannot support a robbery conviction; such demands constitute extortion.
Apprehension Standard: The victim must subjectively experience fear or apprehension, and the threat must be such that an ordinary, reasonable person under the circumstances would be intimidated.
The Timing of Force: The Modern "Escape Rule"
A major point of contention on the FYLSE is the precise temporal window during which force or fear must be applied:
Traditional Common Law Rule: Force or intimidation must be applied prior to or contemporaneous with the taking. Under this strict classical view, if a defendant takes an item by stealth without force, and subsequently uses force solely to fend off a pursuing victim and escape, the offense is larceny plus battery, but not robbery.
Modern Majority & California Rule (Continuous Transaction Doctrine): Under California law ( People v. Anderson ) and the modern majority rule, robbery is treated as a continuous transaction extending from the initial taking through the completion of asportation to a position of temporary safety. Therefore, force or fear used to retain possession of the property or to accomplish an escape elevates the theft to robbery .
Factual Scenario Physical Timing of Force Traditional Common Law Modern Majority / California
Pickpocket Caught D slips wallet from V's pocket unnoticed; V shouts; D shoves V to the ground and flees with wallet. Larceny + Battery (Force occurred after taking) ROBBERY (Force used to effectuate escape with loot)
Purse Snatch with Struggle D grabs V's purse; V clutches strap; D strikes V across the face, breaking strap, and runs. ROBBERY (Force accompanied taking) ROBBERY (Force accompanied taking)
Abandonment Before Force D steals laptop from desk; V blocks doorway; D drops laptop on floor, shoves V aside, and flees empty-handed. Larceny + Battery (No force used to take or retain loot) Larceny + Battery (Force was not used to retain or escape with property)
Aggravated (Armed) Robbery
Statutes in all jurisdictions elevate robbery to aggravated or first-degree robbery when the perpetrator is armed with a dangerous or deadly weapon. Two critical bar exam rules apply:
Simulated Weapons: Where a defendant uses an unloaded firearm, a toy pistol, or keeps a hand concealed in a pocket simulating a gun while verbally threatening to shoot, jurisdictions apply the objective appearance standard : if the victim reasonably believes the defendant is armed with a lethal weapon, the crime constitutes aggravated robbery.
Accomplice Liability: If two perpetrators agree to commit robbery, and one co-felon unexpectedly brandishes a concealed firearm, all co-conspirators are guilty of aggravated robbery under the doctrine that the use of weapons during robbery is reasonably foreseeable.
- 3. Extortion (Blackmail): Coercion Through Future Threats
- Common Law Origin vs. Modern Scope
Common Law Extortion: At common law, extortion was a narrow misdemeanor committed exclusively by a public official who corruptly demanded or collected an unlawful fee under color of office.
Modern Statutory Extortion (Blackmail): Modern statutes broadened the offense to apply to all persons. Extortion is defined as obtaining property from another with their coerced consent, induced by the wrongful use of actual or threatened force, fear, or under color of official right .
The Five Categories of Actionable Threats
Modern extortion statutes punish demands for property backed by threats to:
- Inflict future bodily injury on the victim or another;
- Cause unlawful damage to property ;
- Accuse the victim or a third person of a criminal offense ;
Expose an alleged secret, disgrace, or scandalous matter impairing the victim's personal reputation or business standing ; or
Perform or withhold an official act by a public servant.
Truth of the Accusation is No Defense
Examiners frequently test scenarios where the victim did, in fact, commit the crime or embarrassing act that the defendant threatens to disclose.
The Rule: The truth or falsity of the underlying accusation is completely irrelevant . An individual who discovers that their employer has been embezzling funds and demands $20,000 in exchange for not reporting the embezzlement to law enforcement is guilty of extortion. The law strictly prohibits monetizing the suppression of criminal justice or leveraging embarrassing secrets for financial extortion.
Doctrinal Comparison: Robbery vs. Extortion
Feature Common Law Robbery Modern Extortion (Blackmail)
Nature of Threat Immediate death or serious physical bodily harm. Future bodily harm, property damage, or non-physical harm (reputation, criminal exposure).
Temporal Element Immediate, imminent peril. Future execution of threat.
Consent of Victim Property taken against victim's will without consent. Property surrendered with coerced consent (victim chooses lesser evil).
Location of Property Taken directly from victim's person or presence . Property may be delivered or obtained anywhere (by mail, wire, or dropped in lockers).
Completion of Offense Consummated only upon physical taking and asportation. Modernly, the mere transmission of the extortionate threat completes the crime in many states.