TWOC
Peter Duncanson (BrE)
Without Owner's Consent" which is a type of illegal taking of something
that is distinct from the offence of "theft". Theft is the act of
"dishonestly appropriating property belonging to another with the
intention of permanently depriving the other of it".
Someone who takes a car and "joyrides" in it and then runs off leaving
it has commit the TWOC offence.
The acronym has become a verb and perhaps a noun.
Last night I saw a brief part of a UK TV show "Cops with Cameras". In it
the police caught up with a car that had been taken dishonestly and was
being driven around for fun.
The driver was caught and arrested. When arresting the "suspect" the
officer used the words: "I arrest you for <something>, <something else>
and aggravated twoc".
I was struck by the fact that the officer considered the word "twoc" to
be suitable in the context of a formal arrest statement.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWOC
--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)
Mark Brader
> We have previously discussed the BrE acronym TWOC. It stands for "Taken
> Without Owner's Consent" which is a type of illegal taking of something
> that is distinct from the offence of "theft". Theft is the act of
> "dishonestly appropriating property belonging to another with the
> intention of permanently depriving the other of it".
Whereas, as we have also previously mentioned, in Canadian law "theft"
is not so limited:
# 322.(1) Every one commits theft who fraudulently and without
# colour of right takes, or fraudulently and without colour
# of right converts to his use or to the use of another
# person, anything, whether animate or inanimate, with intent
#
# (a) to deprive, temporarily or absolutely, the owner
# of it, or a person who has a special property or
# interest in it, of the thing or of his property or
# interest in it;
#
# (b) to pledge it or deposit it as security;
#
# (c) to part with it under a condition with respect to
# its return that the person who parts with it may
# be unable to perform; or
#
# (d) to deal with it in such a manner that it cannot be
# restored in the condition in which it was at the
# time it was taken or converted.
and "larceny", the term in some US jurisdictions, does not exist.
> The driver was caught and arrested. When arresting the "suspect" the
> officer used the words: "I arrest you for <something>, <something else>
> and aggravated twoc".
> I was struck by the fact that the officer considered the word "twoc" to
> be suitable in the context of a formal arrest statement.
The combination "aggravated twoc" is interesting too.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto, m...@vex.net
We can design a system that's proof against accident and stupidity;
but we CAN'T design one that's proof against deliberate malice.
--a spaceship designer in Arthur C. Clarke's "2001: A Space Odyssey"
My text in this article is in the public domain.
James Hogg
> We have previously discussed the BrE acronym TWOC. It stands for
> "Taken Without Owner's Consent" which is a type of illegal taking of
> something that is distinct from the offence of "theft". Theft is the
> act of "dishonestly appropriating property belonging to another with
> the intention of permanently depriving the other of it".
>
> Someone who takes a car and "joyrides" in it and then runs off
> leaving it has commit the TWOC offence.
>
> The acronym has become a verb and perhaps a noun.
The noun is attested earlier in the OED (1972), which is hardly
surprising considering that it's an abbreviation of a noun phrase
meaning an offence rather than a verb phrase meaning "to commit the
offence".
The dictionary has the verb "twock" from 1993, the adjective "twocked"
from 1993. The nouns "twocker" and "twocking" are attested slightly earlier,
in 1990 and 1991 respectively.
Early spellings like "TWOCer, twoccer, twoccing" seem to have given way
to "twocker, twocking", but the original noun still mostly lacks a K.
> Last night I saw a brief part of a UK TV show "Cops with Cameras". In
> it the police caught up with a car that had been taken dishonestly
> and was being driven around for fun.
>
> The driver was caught and arrested. When arresting the "suspect" the
> officer used the words: "I arrest you for <something>, <something
> else> and aggravated twoc".
>
> I was struck by the fact that the officer considered the word "twoc"
> to be suitable in the context of a formal arrest statement.
Evidently the word doesn't count as "vague or technical language":
"An arrested person must be given sufficient information to enable them
to understand they have been deprived of their liberty and the reason
they have been arrested, e.g.when a person is arrested on suspicion of
committing an offence they must be informed of the suspected offence�s
nature, when and where it was committed. The suspect must also be
informed of the reason or reasons why arrest is considered necessary.
Vague or technical language should be avoided."
Police and Criminal Evidence (PACE) Act 1984 - Code of Practice G
Note the singular "they".
--
James
Peter Duncanson (BrE)
>
>The combination "aggravated twoc" is interesting too.
"Aggravated" is a legal term meaning that there are offences in addition
to the basic offence. Informally, "aggravated offence" = "offence plus".
In the case of twoc possibly "aggravations" are dangerous driving,
injury to a person, damage to property and damage to the vehicle.
12 and 12A in:
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/RevisedStatutes/Acts/ukpga/1968/cukpga_19680060_en_1#pb2-l1g10
Bertel Lund Hansen
> Whereas, as we have also previously mentioned, in Canadian law "theft"
> is not so limited:
In Danish law we have a concept that directly translated becomes
"theft for use" (brugstyveri).
--
Bertel, Denmark
Peter Duncanson (BrE)
<ma...@peterduncanson.net> wrote:
>Informally, "aggravated offence" = "offence plus".
Or more slangfully: "offence with knobs on".
John Dean
> We have previously discussed the BrE acronym TWOC. It stands for
> "Taken Without Owner's Consent" which is a type of illegal taking of
> something that is distinct from the offence of "theft".
I'm not aware of the term being used other than for taking away a motor
vehicle.
>
> The driver was caught and arrested. When arresting the "suspect" the
> officer used the words: "I arrest you for <something>, <something
> else> and aggravated twoc".
>
> I was struck by the fact that the officer considered the word "twoc"
> to be suitable in the context of a formal arrest statement.
>
I think for "considered suitable" we should substitute the concept "Uses it
so often that there is no thought that it is not a universally accepted
term".
When I worked in Social Security Staff Training, one of the hardest things
to get staff to do was understand that the terms, abbreviations, form
numbers etc that were everyday meat and drink to them were almost always
gobbledygook to customers and needed to be translated.
--
John Dean
Oxford
Steve Hayes
>Peter Duncanson:
>> We have previously discussed the BrE acronym TWOC. It stands for "Taken
>> Without Owner's Consent" which is a type of illegal taking of something
>> that is distinct from the offence of "theft". Theft is the act of
>> "dishonestly appropriating property belonging to another with the
>> intention of permanently depriving the other of it".
>
>Whereas, as we have also previously mentioned, in Canadian law "theft"
>is not so limited:
>
># 322.(1) Every one commits theft who fraudulently and without
># colour of right takes, or fraudulently and without colour
># of right converts to his use or to the use of another
># person, anything, whether animate or inanimate, with intent
"colour of right"?
That looks odd to me.
Is it legal terminology used in other places, or just in Canada?
>#
># (a) to deprive, temporarily or absolutely, the owner
># of it, or a person who has a special property or
># interest in it, of the thing or of his property or
># interest in it;
>#
># (b) to pledge it or deposit it as security;
>#
># (c) to part with it under a condition with respect to
># its return that the person who parts with it may
># be unable to perform; or
>#
># (d) to deal with it in such a manner that it cannot be
># restored in the condition in which it was at the
># time it was taken or converted.
>
>and "larceny", the term in some US jurisdictions, does not exist.
>
>> The driver was caught and arrested. When arresting the "suspect" the
>> officer used the words: "I arrest you for <something>, <something else>
>> and aggravated twoc".
>
>> I was struck by the fact that the officer considered the word "twoc" to
>> be suitable in the context of a formal arrest statement.
>
>The combination "aggravated twoc" is interesting too.
--
Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
Web: http://hayesfam.bravehost.com/stevesig.htm
Blog: http://methodius.blogspot.com
E-mail - see web page, or parse: shayes at dunelm full stop org full stop uk
Steve Hayes
<ma...@peterduncanson.net> wrote:
>On Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:20:31 -0600, m...@vex.net (Mark Brader) wrote:
>
>>
>>The combination "aggravated twoc" is interesting too.
>
>"Aggravated" is a legal term meaning that there are offences in addition
>to the basic offence. Informally, "aggravated offence" = "offence plus".
I thought it meant that the offence was made more serious by the manner in
which it was committed.
"Assault" could mean punching someone in the nose. But if you punch him in the
nose, knock him down, kick him, and bash him over the head, it could be
described as "aggravated assault".
In the days when we had capital punishment, it was a mandatory sentence for
"murder with aggravating circumstances"; it was optional for plain murder (at
the discretion of the judge), and could not be imposed for "murder with
extenuating circumstances".
Mark Brader
>>> The combination "aggravated twoc" is interesting too.
Peter Duncanson:
>> "Aggravated" is a legal term meaning that there are offences in
>> addition to the basic offence...
Steve Hayes:
> I thought it meant that the offence was made more serious by the manner in
> which it was committed.
In Canada, "aggravated <offense>" is used mainly in connection with
assault or sexual assault, and the meaning is basically that the
victim is injured or put in lethal danger. If you punch me without
justification, that's assault; if you break a bone or something, it's
aggravated assault.
Given the notion that "taking without owner's consent" is a separate
offense from theft, I am left wondering how it admits of such gradations.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "When I wanted to be a sigquote, that wasn't
m...@vex.net | the one I was thinking of." --Clive Feather
Mark Brader
>> We have previously discussed the BrE acronym TWOC. It stands for
>> "Taken Without Owner's Consent" which is a type of illegal taking of
>> something that is distinct from the offence of "theft".
> I'm not aware of the term being used other than for taking away a motor
> vehicle.
At this point I'm suddenly reminded of a 1987 US movie called "End of
the Line". As I recall, the story is that two railwaymen commandeer
a locomotive and use it to get to the city where their company's head
office is, so they can visit the president personally and object to
the imminent closure of the railway.
Naturally, since this is a movie, this works. As I recall, it turns
out that the president, although still in charge of the company and
occupying an office there, just uses it for his model train layout
and doesn't follow the company's affairs any more. It's the company
vice-president who ordered the closure because he thought more money
could be made by selling off the company's land, and is now overruled
by the president.
At this point the police, called by the VP, arrive to arrest the two
men for stealing the locomotive -- and the president points out that
it is, after all, still on the railway's property. The end.
--
Mark Brader "In general, it is safe and legal to
Toronto kill your children and their children."
m...@vex.net -- POSIX manual, quoted by Thomas Koenig
Lars Eighner
lovely and talented Peter Duncanson (BrE) broadcast on alt.usage.english:
> We have previously discussed the BrE acronym TWOC. It stands for "Taken
> Without Owner's Consent" which is a type of illegal taking of something
> that is distinct from the offence of "theft". Theft is the act of
> "dishonestly appropriating property belonging to another with the
> intention of permanently depriving the other of it".
> Someone who takes a car and "joyrides" in it and then runs off leaving
> it has commit the TWOC offence.
> The acronym has become a verb and perhaps a noun.
In Texas this offense is "unauthorized use of a motor vehicle." That seems
safely acronym-proof.
> Last night I saw a brief part of a UK TV show "Cops with Cameras". In it
> the police caught up with a car that had been taken dishonestly and was
> being driven around for fun.
> The driver was caught and arrested. When arresting the "suspect" the
> officer used the words: "I arrest you for <something>, <something else>
> and aggravated twoc".
> I was struck by the fact that the officer considered the word "twoc" to
> be suitable in the context of a formal arrest statement.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWOC
--
Lars Eighner <http://larseighner.com/> September 5929, 1993
308 days since Rick Warren prayed over Bush's third term.
Obama: No hope, no change, more of the same. Yes, he can, but no, he won't.
Steve Hayes
>Mark Brader:
>>>> The combination "aggravated twoc" is interesting too.
>
>Peter Duncanson:
>>> "Aggravated" is a legal term meaning that there are offences in
>>> addition to the basic offence...
>
>Steve Hayes:
>> I thought it meant that the offence was made more serious by the manner in
>> which it was committed.
>
>In Canada, "aggravated <offense>" is used mainly in connection with
>assault or sexual assault, and the meaning is basically that the
>victim is injured or put in lethal danger. If you punch me without
>justification, that's assault; if you break a bone or something, it's
>aggravated assault.
>
>Given the notion that "taking without owner's consent" is a separate
>offense from theft, I am left wondering how it admits of such gradations.
Good point.
"I didn't steal it officer. Honestly, I was going to give it back".
Perhaps, like the broken bone, the offence is aggravated if the article is
dmaged while in possession of the taker without consent.
Mark Brader
> In Texas this offense is "unauthorized use of a motor vehicle."
> That seems safely acronym-proof.
No, it has a natural one -- "wham-vee"!
I mean, double U = W, right? And if "High-Mobility Multi-Purpose
Wheeled Vehicle" can become "Humvee", well, what more do you want?
--
Mark Brader | "If the standard says that [things] depend on the
Toronto | phase of the moon, the programmer should be prepared
m...@vex.net | to look out the window as necessary." -- Chris Torek
R H Draney
>
>When I worked in Social Security Staff Training, one of the hardest things
>to get staff to do was understand that the terms, abbreviations, form
>numbers etc that were everyday meat and drink to them were almost always
>gobbledygook to customers and needed to be translated.
sb. should really do sth. about that....r
--
A pessimist sees the glass as half empty.
An optometrist asks whether you see the glass
more full like this?...or like this?
John Dean
> John Dean filted:
>>
>> When I worked in Social Security Staff Training, one of the hardest
>> things to get staff to do was understand that the terms,
>> abbreviations, form numbers etc that were everyday meat and drink to
>> them were almost always gobbledygook to customers and needed to be
>> translated.
>
> sb. should really do sth. about that....r
YMMV but HAND
--
John Dean
Oxford
R H Draney
Worst. Tetragrammaton. Evar.
Skitt
> (Mark Brader) wrote, in part:
>> Given the notion that "taking without owner's consent" is a separate
>> offense from theft, I am left wondering how it admits of such
>> gradations.
>
> Good point.
>
> "I didn't steal it officer. Honestly, I was going to give it back".
<snip>
You have just shown why military personnel absent without obtaining leave
(AWOL), even when staying absent for what seems like forever, usually don't
get charged with desertion. It has to be proven that the intent was to stay
away permanently, and quite often that's not very easily done. Proving AWOL
is a slam-dunk, and that is good enough for incarceration.
--
Skitt (AmE)
an erstwhile legal eagle (JAG)
Mark Brader
> ...absent without obtaining leave (AWOL)...
I never saw that expansion before. All of the online sources I just
checked via http://www.onelook.com seem to agree that it's either
Absent WithOut Leave or, just possibly, Absent Without Official Leave.
--
Mark Brader | "Don't get me wrong, perl is an OK operating system,
Toronto | but it lacks a lightweight scripting language."
m...@vex.net | -- Walter Dnes
Skitt
> "Skitt" writes:
>> ...absent without obtaining leave (AWOL)...
>
> I never saw that expansion before. All of the online sources I just
> checked via http://www.onelook.com seem to agree that it's either
> Absent WithOut Leave or, just possibly, Absent Without Official Leave.
Either, but usually the first. The Army was never sure ... it's been too
long ... 50 years ... never used the unabbreviated version ... my memory is
good, but short ...
--
Skitt (AmE)
what was I talking about?
Amethyst Deceiver
Possibly a sign that the officer had arrested the driver before for
the same offence.
James Hogg
One more time and it would be threec?
--
James
Peter Duncanson (BrE)
wrote:
"You again! I'm fourc-ing arresting you."
CDB
Chuck Riggs
wrote:
This Army brat never heard anything but the "absent without leave"
version of AWOL while he was growing up.
--
Regards,
Chuck Riggs,
An American who lives near Dublin, Ireland and usually spells in BrE
Skitt
> Chuck wrote:
>> Skitt wrote:
>>> Mark Brader wrote:
>>>> "Skitt" writes:
>>>>> ...absent without obtaining leave (AWOL)...
>>>>
>>>> I never saw that expansion before. All of the online sources I
>>>> just checked via http://www.onelook.com seem to agree that it's
>>>> either Absent WithOut Leave or, just possibly, Absent Without
>>>> Official Leave.
>>>
>>> Either, but usually the first. The Army was never sure ... it's
>>> been too long ... 50 years ... never used the unabbreviated version
>>> ... my memory is good, but short ...
>>
>> This Army brat never heard anything but the "absent without leave"
>> version of AWOL while he was growing up.
>
> That was how I always heard it, too, then I looked in Wikipedia which
> said:
>
> In the United Kingdom, United States and Canada, military personnel
> become AWOL (US: Absent Without Official Leave) or AWL (UK, Canada and
> Australia: Absent Without Leave), all of which are pronounced
> /'e?w??l/, when they are absent from their post without a valid pass
> or leave. The United States Marine Corps and United States Navy
> generally refer to this as Unauthorized Absence, or "UA."
>
> I also looked at Article 86 in the Uniform Code of Military Justice
> which defines the offence and calls it Absence Without Leave.
>
> http://www.army.mil/references/ucmj/ucmj2.html
Right. Still, there are some of the other kind:
From:
http://www.cpms.osd.mil/ASSETS/E5CCC004305844269D54571356443156/m1400850.PDF
SC850.9.5.4.3.1. Absent Without Official Leave (AWOL).
I don't know where I came up with my original version. Let's just say it was
original.
--
Skitt (AmE)
tsuidf
> "colour of right"?
>
> That looks odd to me.
>
> Is it legal terminology used in other places, or just in Canada?
It looks all right, albeit technical, to me, and I did my first law
degree in the US. I couldn't cite chapter and verse on where I first
saw or heard it, but it seems in my mind to be of the vintage of that
degree (i.e., late 1970s, USA).
It would be interesting know if others here can mark it reliably as
alien to their versions of English.
cheers,
Stephanie
Peter Moylan
I still haven't worked out what it's supposed to mean.
--
Peter Moylan, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. http://www.pmoylan.org
For an e-mail address, see my web page.
Mark Brader
>>> "colour of right"?
>>> That looks odd to me.
Stephanie Mitchell:
>> It looks all right, albeit technical, to me, and I did my first law
>> degree in the US...
Peter Moylan:
> I still haven't worked out what it's supposed to mean.
It's not a familiar expression to me either, but I thought it was
pretty obvious from the context that doing something "without color
of right" must mean doing it "without anything suggesting that they
might have the right to do it". A metaphor from water without a
trace of pigment in it, or something of that kind.
Now let's confirm it by finding the other version. That was 322(1):
# 322. (1) Every one commits theft who fraudulently and without colour
# of right takes, or fraudulently and without colour of
# right converts to his use or to the use of another person,
# anything, whether animate or inanimate, with intent ...
And the other 322(1):
� 322. (1) Commet un vol quiconque prend frauduleusement et sans
� apparence de droit, ou d�tourne � son propre usage ou
� � l'usage d'une autre personne, frauduleusement et sans
� apparence de droit, une chose quelconque, anim�e ou inanim�e,
� avec l'intention :
�
� a) soit de priver, temporairement ou absolument, son
� propri�taire, ou une personne y ayant un droit de
� propri�t� sp�cial ou un int�r�t sp�cial, de cette chose
� ou de son droit ou int�r�t dans cette chose;
�
� b) soit de la mettre en gage ou de la d�poser en garantie;
�
� c) soit de s'en dessaisir � une condition, pour son retour,
� que celui qui s'en dessaisit peut �tre incapable de
� remplir;
�
� d) soit d'agir � son �gard de telle mani�re qu'il soit
� impossible de la remettre dans l'�tat o� elle �tait au
� moment o� elle a �t� prise ou d�tourn�e.
There, see? "Sans apparence de droit".
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | I still remember the first time his reality check
m...@vex.net | bounced. -- Darlene Richards
Steve Hayes
Though my knowledge of French is minimal, that makes more sense to me than
"colo(u)r of right".
Peter Moylan
It certainly helps to have a Rosetta Stone. The French is clear enough,
but the English still looks weird to me.
Frank ess
My familiarity with California sentencing rules let me generalize from
"under color of authority" to make sense of it.
To have committed a criminal act under color of authority is an
aggravating factor.
--
Frank ess
R H Draney
>"under color of authority" to make sense of it.
>
>To have committed a criminal act under color of authority is an
>aggravating factor.
But shirley that's "color" in the sense of an identifying flag or
markings?...covers things like pulling people over while dressed in a police
costume....r
Robert Bannister
I thought it was a misprint, but I couldn't guess what the correct word
might be.
--
Rob Bannister
Robert Bannister
Looks like a typo for "cover".
--
Rob Bannister
Steve Hayes
And what does it mean?
(Im)personating a policeman?
Frank ess
Steve Hayes wrote:
> On Fri, 27 Nov 2009 08:43:30 -0800, "Frank ess" <fr...@fshe2fs.com>
> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>> tsuidf wrote:
>>> On Nov 25, 1:32 am, Steve Hayes <hayesm...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> "colour of right"?
>>>>
>>>> That looks odd to me.
>>>>
>>>> Is it legal terminology used in other places, or just in Canada?
>>>
>>> It looks all right, albeit technical, to me, and I did my first
>>> law degree in the US. I couldn't cite chapter and verse on where
>>> I first saw or heard it, but it seems in my mind to be of the
>>> vintage of that degree (i.e., late 1970s, USA).
>>>
>>> It would be interesting know if others here can mark it reliably
>>> as alien to their versions of English.
>>>
>>> cheers,
>>> Stephanie
>>
>> My familiarity with California sentencing rules let me generalize
>> from "under color of authority" to make sense of it.
>>
>> To have committed a criminal act under color of authority is an
>> aggravating factor.
>
> And what does it mean?
>
> (Im)personating a policeman?
I understood it to mean /being/ a policeman and using the position as
leverage to accomplish an illicit end. "I'll make it easy for you if
you'll ... "
--
Frank ess
Steve Hayes
>
>
>Steve Hayes wrote:
>> And what does it mean?
>>
>> (Im)personating a policeman?
>
>I understood it to mean /being/ a policeman and using the position as
>leverage to accomplish an illicit end. "I'll make it easy for you if
>you'll ... "
Hmmm... Is there a French version we could check it against?
Peter Duncanson (BrE)
wrote:
I think the analogous BrE legal phrase is "malfeasance in public
office".
This says:
http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Malfeasance+in+office
official misconduct
(redirected from Malfeasance in office)
official misconduct n. improper and/or illegal acts by a public
official which violate his/her duty to follow the law and act on
behalf of the public good. Often such conduct is under the guise or
"color" of official authority.
Similar offences (malfeasance, misfeasance or misconduct in...) exist in
other jurisdictions. Wikipedia has an outline article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malfeasance_in_office
The offence seems to be more clearly defined in English Law than in many
other systems.