Abstract:
In Parti Liyani v Public Prosecutor [2020] SGHC 187, the High Court held that a person cannot commit theft of an item that has been discarded by its owner. This note suggests that the High Court’s underlying premise for that position may benefit from reconsideration in a future case, as it did not take into account certain important legal nuances. In particular, the court could have considered relevant authorities (both foreign and local) on the law of abandonment by trashing.