Colour of right, sometimes referred to as a claim of right, is the legal concept in

common law Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...

countries of an accused's permission to the usage or conversion of an asset in the possession of another. The concept can also refer to a right, authority or power conferred on an official by way of a relationship between various

statutory A statute is a law or formal written enactment of a legislature. Statutes typically declare, command or prohibit something. Statutes are distinguished from court law and unwritten law (also known as common law) in that they are the expressed wil ...

regulatory Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. Fo ...

instruments, where the official is granted a position's powers without having to actually occupy the position. In New Zealand's

Crimes Act Crimes Act (with its variations) is a stock short title used for legislation in Australia, New Zealand and the United States, relating to the criminal law (including both substantive and procedural aspects of that law). It tends to be used for Ac ...

, colour of right "means an honest belief that an act is justifiable...". Using this as a defence does not automatically guarantee an

acquittal In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal means that the criminal prosecution has failed to prove that the accused is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the charge presented. It certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an of ...

; however, it does diminish the

mens rea In criminal law, (; Law Latin for "guilty mind") is the mental state of a defendant who is accused of committing a crime. In common law jurisdictions, most crimes require proof both of ''mens rea'' and '' actus reus'' ("guilty act") before th ...

component needed for a

conviction In law, a conviction is the determination by a court of law that a defendant is Guilty (law), guilty of a crime. A conviction may follow a guilty plea that is accepted by the court, a jury trial in which a verdict of guilty is delivered, or a ...

. Notably, the legal requirements proving colour of right differ in New Zealand than in other

countries as a result of '' Hayes v R''. Examples: Bram's friend lets him use his van to go to a party later that night. Neither Bram nor the van return the next day. Bram comes back five days later after using the van to go on a camping trip. Bram's friend goes to court for theft. He argues that he thought that he had the right to use the van for the camping trip because he was allowed to use the van to go the party. Susan’s car is stolen from her driveway. Some days later, Susan sees an advertisement for someone selling her exact car which had been stolen. She approaches the seller by deceptively acting as an interested buyer. Susan then asks for a test drive and proceeds to drive away with the car, not returning nor paying the seller for the car on the grounds that she is the rightful owner.

References

Common law legal terminology {{law-term-stub