11 Del. C. § 847
This is the official text of 11 Del. C. § 847, part of Delaware’s Del. C — part of the compiled statutory law of Delaware, published by the state as "Del. C." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.
Not legal advice. This page reproduces the official text of a government statute for reference only. Laws change, and how a statute applies depends on your specific facts. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed attorney in your state.
§ Â 847. Theft, extortion; claim of right as an affirmative defense.
Official statutory text
(a) In any prosecution for theft or extortion it is an affirmative defense that the property was appropriated by the actor under a claim of right, made in good faith, to do substantially what the actor did in the manner in which it was done.
(b) In any prosecution for extortion where the facts are as described in § 846(4) of this title, it is an affirmative defense that the accused believed the threatened criminal charge to be true and that the accused’s sole purpose was to compel or induce the victim to take reasonable action to make good the wrong which was the subject of the threatened charge.
(b) In any prosecution for extortion where the facts are as described in § 846(4) of this title, it is an affirmative defense that the accused believed the threatened criminal charge to be true and that the accused’s sole purpose was to compel or induce the victim to take reasonable action to make good the wrong which was the subject of the threatened charge.
Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site
Need a lawyer in Delaware?
Find a Delaware lawyer
About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the
Open US Law dataset
(Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine
(Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.