Poisoning your own food - fair game?

[aelf]

I just had my food stolen for the first time in my flat, which surprised me because I've been living with my flatmates for half a year and they seem pretty decent folks. Maybe it was an honest mistake, I don't know.

But this got me thinking. If I were to label my food with my name and put some kind of poison on it (which I take to range from stuff like laxatives to arsenic), and if a food thief were to eat it, would I be liable to face prosecution/legal action? What if I also put a warning label on it to indicate that it has been laced with poison?

I'd think that under prevailing propertarian laws, this would be okay. It's mine and surely I have the right to do what I want with it as long as I don't force anyone to eat it or something. But enlighten me if I'm mistaken.

 

[cubsfan6506]

Ummm... don't do that.

 

[Rashiminos]

Laws probably exist against that, not that those laws are necessarily correct.

 

[Perfection]

The intent of putting poison in the food was nothing other then to cause bodily harm to another person. You are guilty of poisoning them.

 

[Rashiminos]

The intent of putting poison in the food was nothing other then to cause bodily harm to another person. You are guilty of poisoning them.

No, the intent was to prevent pests from eating the food. That the pests were ignorant of the presence of the poison can be overlooked if they chose to eat food that did not belong to them.

 

[Skwink]

A meal before adding poison, put a note on the food so they know what you plan to do. If they choose to still be jerks, just spit in it. Could you live with killing someone?

 

[Rashiminos]

A meal before adding poison, put a note on the food so they know what you plan to do. If they choose to still be jerks, just spit in it. Could you live with killing someone?

If I left a warning, and they chose to not heed that warning, then I did not kill them. Instead, they committed suicide.

 

[Perfection]

No, the intent was to prevent pests from eating the food. That the pests were ignorant of the presence of the poison can be overlooked if they chose to eat food that did not belong to them.

That does not make any sense. How does poisoning food without notification prevent pests from eating it?

 

[Skwink]

That does not make any sense. How does poisoning food without notification prevent pests from eating it?

Well they won't eat it anymore.

 

[Rashiminos]

That does not make any sense. How does poisoning food without notification prevent pests from eating it?

They die before eating all of it.

It works quite well, thank you very much.

Spoiler :

Or the dead pests now replace the food source they just ate.

 

[Perfection]

Well they won't eat it anymore.

They die before eating all of it.

It works quite well, thank you very much.

Spoiler :

Or the dead pests now replace the food source they just ate.

And both of those only work if bodily harm is caused. When I said the sole intent was bodily harm, I didn't mean that the bodily harm was the ultimate thing desired, rather that it was the only outcome the poisoner intended for his actions.



Relevant case shows these poisonings would be illegal:
http://www.lawts.com/torts/katko-briney/

 

[amadeus]

Wow, this is a terrible idea and I will tell you why!

There are laws that prohibit tampering with things that you have the expectation that someone else will use, even if it doesn't belong to them. Of course, expectation is defined loosely in that it would be plausible that someone else would use it. Having food stolen from a refrigerator is a very, very plausible situation.

Now, if you were to add laxatives to said food and label it as such, you could probably avoid any sort of legal liability because it would state on the container that you added laxatives to it. Of course, now your food has laxatives in it, so... you don't really win, do you?

 

[azzaman333]

If you put poison in it, you obviously intend for someone else to eat it.

 

[Mise]

Who the hell is going to sue you for putting laxatives in your own food.

Yes, it's illegal, but the suit would just prove he's an arsehole. It's illegal to punch him in the dick but that doesn't mean it's not a good idea.

 

[bombshoo]

Just leave an ominous note that suggests you may have added laxatives to at least one of the items that belong to you, and if they want to take the chance on eating the wrong thing, that is up to them.

 

[FriendlyFire]

yes and post pics or it didnt happen,

 

[Kyriakos]

Interesting.
I am pretty sure (it seems logical) that you would still be persecuted; all the prosecution would have to prove would be that you expected someone else to steal and eat your poisoned food.

I must say i do not really understand what the point of labeling it as poisoned would be. You either aim to poison someone, or don't- unless your point was that you believed the other person would dismiss the warning as a ploy to get him to not eat the food. In such a (unlikely) case i guess you could still get away with killing them, if you convince the authorities that you genuinely meant to warn the thief against using your property. Still might raise considerable suspicion against your real motive though.

 

[Mise]

Dude! He's not trying to kill anyone!!! WTH man!

 

[Kyriakos]

Its called theoretical examination of a situation I am sure no one is under the impression he posted his will to commit murder on some internet forum.

 

[Mongoloid Cow]

I'd assume there was some criminal intent in the placing of poison in the food, but laxatives could be so innocently explained - you put them in the food for your own use.