UCMJ Article 121: Larceny and Wrongful Appropriation
On this page
- Permanent or temporary: the intent in § 921
- Taking, obtaining, or withholding
- Who counts as the owner
- When the taking is wrongful
- Intent to steal, and what does not cancel it
- Valuing the property
- Military property is a term of art
- Temporary deprivation: wrongful appropriation
- From 3 months to 10 years, by value and type of property
- Cards, services, force, and fraud on the Government
- Sources
- Related posts:
Larceny and wrongful appropriation share the same act, wrongfully taking, obtaining, or withholding property, and differ only in intent. Larceny requires intent to deprive the owner permanently. Wrongful appropriation requires intent to deprive the owner only temporarily. Larceny carries up to 1, 5, or 10 years depending on value and type of property. Wrongful appropriation carries 3 months to 2 years.
Permanent or temporary: the intent in § 921
Under 10 U.S.C. § 921(a), a person subject to the UCMJ who “wrongfully takes, obtains, or withholds, by any means, from the possession of the owner or of any other person any money, personal property, or article of value of any kind”:
- with intent permanently to deprive or defraud another of the use and benefit of property, or to appropriate it to the accused’s own use or the use of anyone other than the owner, “steals that property and is guilty of larceny”; or
- with intent temporarily to do so, “is guilty of wrongful appropriation.”
The Manual for Courts-Martial (2024 ed.), Part IV, ¶ 64.c(1)(a), explains that one article covers three old crimes: wrongful taking (common law larceny), wrongful obtaining by false pretense, and wrongful withholding (formerly embezzlement). Any of them may be charged as “did steal.”
Taking, obtaining, or withholding
Any movement of the property or exercise of dominion over it is generally enough if accompanied by the required intent (¶ 64.c(1)(b)). The Manual’s examples include enticing another’s horse into one’s own stable without touching it and having another person’s funds transferred to one’s own bank account.
A withholding can arise from failing to return, account for, or deliver property when due, even with no demand from the owner, or from using property in a way the owner did not authorize. Two limits:
- Receiving stolen property and being an accessory after the fact are not “withholding,” so a receiver or accessory after the fact cannot be convicted of larceny on that basis alone. Receiving is a separate offense under Article 122a.
- Failing to pay a debt is not larceny, because a creditor has no possessory right in any specific money of the debtor.
Who counts as the owner
The “owner” is whoever had the superior right to possession at the time (¶ 64.c(1)(c)(ii)). “Any other person” includes anyone with possession or a greater right to possession than the accused, “even a person who has stolen the property.” A government, corporation, association, organization, or estate can be the owner.
When the taking is wrongful
A taking or withholding is generally wrongful if done without the other’s consent, and an obtaining is wrongful if done by false pretense (¶ 64.c(1)(d)). It is not wrongful if authorized by law or apparently lawful superior orders, or, generally, if done by someone with an equal or greater right to possession. An owner can still steal his or her own property from someone holding a superior right, such as a lien.
False pretense is a knowingly false representation of past or existing fact, which may include a person’s present intention (¶ 64.c(1)(e)). It must be an effective and intentional cause of the obtaining; a false statement made after the property is obtained is not enough. The Manual’s example: borrowing a watch “briefly” while intending to sell it is larceny.
Intent to steal, and what does not cancel it
The required intent may be formed after a lawful taking. The Manual’s example: a person who rents a vehicle intending to return it, later decides to keep it, and fails to return it on time has committed larceny (¶ 64.c(1)(f)(i)). Secretly taking and hiding property, then denying knowledge, supports an inference of intent; taking openly and returning tends to negate it (¶ 64.c(1)(f)(ii)).
Under ¶ 64.c(1)(f)(iii):
- Motive does not matter. Taking property “as a joke” or “to teach the owner a lesson” is no defense, though an intent to return makes it wrongful appropriation rather than larceny. Taking stolen property from a thief to return it to the owner is neither offense.
- Intending to pay or replace is no defense. One exception: taking money or a negotiable instrument with no special value above face, intending to return an equivalent amount, is not larceny, though it may be wrongful appropriation.
- Returning the property is no defense once the larceny is complete.
Valuing the property
Value is a question of fact (¶ 64.c(1)(g)). For Government-issued items, an official price list is admissible but not conclusive. For other property, value is generally its legitimate market value at the time and place of the theft, and the owner may testify to it. If the property is obviously worth substantially more than $1,000 as a matter of common knowledge, the court-martial may find a value over $1,000. Several items taken at substantially the same time and place are one larceny, even if they belong to different people (¶ 64.c(1)(i)(ii)).
Military property is a term of art
Military property is “all property, real or personal, owned, held, or used by one of the armed forces of the United States” (¶ 64.c(1)(h)). It is not the same as Government property: “While all military property is Government property, not all Government property is military property.” Retail merchandise of service exchange stores is not military property.
Temporary deprivation: wrongful appropriation
Wrongful appropriation is identical to larceny except for the temporary intent (¶ 64.c(2)(a)). The Manual’s examples include taking another’s car without permission to drive it a short distance and return it, and deviating from an assigned route in a Government vehicle to visit a friend, then restoring the vehicle to its proper use. An inadvertent exercise of control, such as failing to return a borrowed boat on time because it ran aground, is not an offense.
From 3 months to 10 years, by value and type of property
From ¶ 64.d:
| Offense | Maximum |
|---|---|
| Larceny, property worth $1,000 or less | Bad-conduct discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, 1 year |
| Larceny of military property worth more than $1,000, or of any military motor vehicle, aircraft, vessel, firearm, or explosive | Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, 10 years |
| Larceny of non-military property worth more than $1,000, or of any other motor vehicle, aircraft, vessel, firearm, or explosive | Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, 5 years |
| Wrongful appropriation, $1,000 or less | 3 months; forfeiture of two-thirds pay per month for 3 months |
| Wrongful appropriation, more than $1,000 | Bad-conduct discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, 1 year |
| Wrongful appropriation of any motor vehicle, aircraft, vessel, firearm, explosive, or military property worth more than $1,000 | Dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, 2 years |
Cards, services, force, and fraud on the Government
Using a credit, debit, or electronic transaction to obtain goods or money “ordinarily should be charged” under Article 121a, and theft of services cannot be charged as larceny; it falls under Article 121b (¶ 64.c(1)(i)(iv)-(v)). Taking anything of value from the person or in the presence of another, against that person’s will, by force or violence or fear of injury, is robbery under Article 122. Wrongful appropriation is the Manual’s first example of a lesser included offense of larceny under Article 79.
Sources
- 10 U.S.C. § 921, Article 121, Larceny and wrongful appropriation (Cornell LII)
- Manual for Courts-Martial, United States (2024 ed.), Part IV, ¶ 3.c(2) and ¶ 64
General information about military law, not legal advice for any individual case.