Criminal conversion is a
crime, limited to parts of
common law systems outside England and Wales, of exerting unauthorized use or control of someone else's
property, at a minimum
personal property, but in some jurisdictions also applying to types of
real property, such as land (to
squatting and/or
holding over) and/or to patents, design rights and trademarks. It differs from
theft in that it does not include the element of intending to deprive the owner of permanent possession of that property. As such, it is a lesser offense than the crime of theft. Criminal conversion specifies a type of
conversion in that it involves
criminal law, not
civil law.