Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

Contract and Commercial Law Act 2017

Sale of goods - Effects of contract - Transfer of title

152: Revesting of property in stolen goods on conviction of offender

You could also call this:

“Stolen stuff goes back to the owner when the thief is caught”

If someone steals your things and gets caught, you get your stuff back. This happens even if the thief sold or gave your things to someone else. The law says that when the thief is found guilty, you become the owner of your things again.

But be careful, this rule doesn’t work the same way for things that were taken by tricking you or by doing something wrong that isn’t stealing. In those cases, just because the person who did it is found guilty, it doesn’t mean you automatically get your things back.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM6844348.

Topics:
Crime and justice > Criminal law Crime and justice > Victim support
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"Buying things from someone who might not be allowed to sell them"

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153: Seller in possession after sale, or

"Rules for selling something you've already sold but still have"

Part 3 Sale of goods
Effects of contract: Transfer of title

152Revesting of property in stolen goods on conviction of offender

  1. The property in stolen goods revests in the person who was the owner of the goods (or that person’s personal representative) if the offender is convicted, despite any intermediate dealing with the goods.

  2. Despite any other enactment, the property in goods obtained by fraud or other wrongful means that does not amount to theft does not revest in the person who was the owner of the goods (or that person’s personal representative) by reason only of the conviction of the offender.

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