The 1827 offence was in turn replaced in 1837 by an offence concerning any person who “with menaces or by force, demand(s) any property of any person with intent to steal". In the Larceny Act 1916 the element of "taking" included taking by intimidation based on an earlier case "R v. McGrath". Before the enactment of section 21 of the Theft Act 1968, the word blackmail was not a legal term of art. The word was used by lawyers as a convenient way of referring to the offences under section 29 to 31 of the Larceny Act 1916, and those offences were commonly known as blackmail. But the word blackmail did not appear anywhere in that Act. In early legal history, the term appears to have referred to the extorted property itself, and included by reference both the perpetrator and the victim - the legal position was that the victim was as equally culpable as the extortioner, insofar as he/she had given in to extortion and thereby made it profitable to extort. Hogan described these offences as "an ill-assorted collection of legislative bric a brac which the draftsmen of the 1916 Act put together with scissors and paste." They were replaced in 1968 by section 21 of the Theft Act. The offence of blackmail is created by section 20 of the Theft Act (Northern Ireland) 1969 of the Northern Ireland Parliament. It is derived from and identical to section 21 of the Theft Act 1968 of England and Wales. There is no statutory offence of blackmail in Scotland. The common law offence of extortion is similar. Extortion is the offence of using the threat of harm to demand money, property or some advantage from another person. It does not matter whether the demand itself is legitimate (such as for money owed) as the offence can still be committed when illegitimate threats of harm are used. The offense of blackmail is created by which provides:  "Whoever, under a threat of informing, or as a consideration for not informing, against any violation of any law of the United States, demands or receives any money or other valuable thing, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both." For the offense of blackmailing in Austria the punishment is imprisonment for a time from six months up to five years according to §144 of the Austrian Criminal Code. In the German Criminal Code, the offense of blackmail (Erpressung) is set to be punishable by a fine or imprisonment for up to five years. Specific laws exist for continuous blackmail threats or offenses against constitutional organs or against personal freedom in case of abduction.