The quad for my law school had a sign that said "Stay off Grass". We didn't know whether they meant the grass in the quad or was intended as an anti-drug message. Nevertheless, first year law students were always called grass asses (for sitting on the grass before they knew they would earn the nickname) and any intended anti-drug message certainly didn't get through.
"Having sex with a girl is rape! I don't think it's harmless at all!"
Also see S&M in the UK. Also soon to be joined by laws which will make taking photos of such consensual adult acts in private comparable to possessing child porn.
Property rights are a "bundle of sticks" - and as far as inetellectual property rights go - the founders recognized a timeframe for which the creator of that property could have exclusivity on how that bundle was distributed. If you take a stick without paying during that timeframe, you are stealing
I represent a software company that licenses its software to its clients for anywhere from $3,500 to $350,000 per year and most clients happily pay because it is worth it to them from a financial standpoint - free market capitalism at its finest. Someone stealing is likely doing more damage in financial terms that your average burglar. Because the industry my client licenses to is highly regulated, when they catch a thief, they can usually extract a premium license fee out of such thief rather than expose them to their regulators. If they hadn't have stolen in the first place, then they would have paid a lower fee for the software than they ultimately end up paying.
My dog comes when she's called, period. Even if she's chasing a squirrel, I call her, she comes. I keep an eye on her, and if she leaves a turd, I clean up. She's never attacked anyone, and she's strong enough that if she decided to, me holding a leash wouldn't be able to stop her. Certainly some dogs need to be on leashes because they simply can't behave themselves, but to put a blanket ban is irrational. I believe it actually causes more harm than good: if the law says leash, you always use a leash. If you use that leash as an excuse to not train your dog properly, the way people use the dog's size, or the dog's crate, or whatever, you've got a less harmless dog.
We're not talking about physical things like stick. See the definition of stealing.
Ah, but what if they wouldn't have "stolen"(sic)?
Smoking pot?
[/sprays air freshener]
So if no death or injury results, it shouldn't be a crime? If I pull off an armed bank robbery and nobody gets hurt, I should just be seen as an aggressive businessman rather than a criminal?
