[1] Gilbert: A 30 year old male robber breaks into your home. He steals the jewelry, physically assaults a member of your family and flees. The robber is caught and confesses to the crime. His guilt is beyond doubt.
[2] Miguel: If a 30 year male breaks into my home, assaults a member of my family and decamps with jewellery, then the correct English and legal word for it is ROBBERY, not STEALING. Stealing is when the act is done UNKNOWN to the other. My personal choices as punishment for the Robber would depend on the reason for the robbery, the circumstances and the robber's state of mind at the time of the act jc's response: While I do not profess to know much about the subject of English legal system and with due respect to the learned opinions of others, I venture the following based upon ALL the available facts (as submitted by Gilbert')...and on the Theft Act 1968 (as amended) This fictitious individual is IMHO guilty of the following crimes (involving two different statutes) 1.Burglarly 2. Theft 3. Battery Comment: Robbery - only if Theft occured post intimidation or a threat. No evidence that theft occured after assault Comment 2: No leniency based upon any mitigating circumstances should be expected after the assault/battery Comment 3: The meaning of the word "Stealing" is not as restrictive as suggested by Miguel. Post-Script: NO justification for the following a: The unholy Inquisition b: The biased accounts of that unholy Inquisition. c: Whenever one wishes to judge an event, ALL the facts of the case should be examined. d: Just because there are recorded facts on one side - does not mean that there were NO other facts. e: It is my honest opinion that there is selective and religious-politically motivated anti-Catholic propaganda spread by way of reference to the Inquisition. Some of it is LIES (please see Godfrey's post - link infra) f: Sometimes, this propaganda is selectively used to hammer the Portuguese, at other times ...the Catholic Church. g: The Catholic Church is partly responsible for the continuance of this propaganda. It should come clean and apologize for its actions. h: Jewish and Hindu writers (eg Priolkar) should have also come clean about the brutality of their own religions against others. That would have made them more credible. i: At this moment, they are just as credible as Gilbert - which isn't very much. jc for further reading:-> 1: The most unholy Inquisition - foreword http://www.colaco.net/1/InquiForeword.htm 2: Bigots spreading distortions about the Inquisition http://www.colaco.net/1/GGinquisitionLies.htm 3: How about conversion to humane behaviour? http://www.colaco.net/3/PravinHumane.htm
