Larceny is a crime in which someone unlawfully takes something which belongs to someone else, with the intent to permanently deprive the owner of his or her rightful possession. Larceny is also known as “theft,” and depending on the region, the relevant legal statutes may refer to theft or larceny, but not generally both. The penalties for this crime vary, depending on what is stolen and regional laws.

As a general rule, most legal systems distinguish between petty larceny and grand larceny on the basis of the value of the item stolen. For example, stealing a car would be a case of grand larceny, as cars are generally quite valuable, while stealing someone's kitchen table would be petty larceny. In both cases, the thief intends to benefit in some way from the object stolen, while the person to whom the object belonged suffers as a result of its absence.

There are also several different kinds of larceny. For example, in a case of larceny by trick, someone tricks someone into giving up an item which belongs to them; for example, someone could pretend to be a law enforcement officer and steal something from a victim by saying that the item was being confiscated. In the case of larceny by false pretenses, someone might do something like selling a stolen car to someone else while pretending to be the car's owner. In other type of larceny called larceny by false promise, someone takes something with the understanding that a service will be given in return and never renders the service, as might be the case with someone who agrees to sell an antique for a small fee and turn the profit over to the antique's owner, but then simply pockets the funds from the sale.

One of the defining characteristics of larceny is that it is nonviolent. If someone breaks into a car and steals it, this is larceny. If someone happens to be in the car at the time, it becomes a carjacking. The absence of violence makes larceny less heavily punished than crimes like robbery, which involve active violence against people or property.

The term “larceny” is only used to refer to thefts of tangible, physical property. In the case of situations like gaining real estate by fraud or engaging in fraudulent financial transactions, though these crimes may be thefts, they are classified under a different framework. Depending on the severity of a larceny, someone may be expected to replace the stolen item, pay a fee, or even spend a bit of time in jail.