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Theft
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Theft
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322. (1) Every one commits theft who
fraudulently and without colour of right takes, or fraudulently and
without colour of right converts to his use or to the use of another
person, anything, whether animate or inanimate, with intent
(a) to deprive, temporarily or absolutely, the
owner of it, or a person who has a special property or interest in it, of
the thing or of his property or interest in it;
(b) to pledge it or deposit it as security;
(c) to part with it under a condition with
respect to its return that the person who parts with it may be unable to
perform; or
(d) to deal with it in such a manner that it
cannot be restored in the condition in which it was at the time it was
taken or converted.
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Time when theft completed
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(2) A person commits theft when, with intent to steal
anything, he moves it or causes it to move or to be moved, or begins to
cause it to become movable.
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Secrecy
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(3) A taking or conversion of anything may be
fraudulent notwithstanding that it is effected without secrecy or attempt
at concealment.
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Purpose of taking
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(4) For the purposes of this Act, the question
whether anything that is converted is taken for the purpose of conversion,
or whether it is, at the time it is converted, in the lawful possession of
the person who converts it is not material.
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Wild living creature
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(5) For the purposes of this section, a person who
has a wild living creature in captivity shall be deemed to have a special
property or interest in it while it is in captivity and after it has
escaped from captivity.
R.S., c. C-34, s. 283.
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Oysters
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323. (1) Where oysters and oyster brood are in
oyster beds, layings or fisheries that are the property of any person and
are sufficiently marked out or known as the property of that person, that
person shall be deemed to have a special property or interest in them.
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Oyster bed
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(2) An indictment is sufficient if it describes an
oyster bed, laying or fishery by name or in any other way, without stating
that it is situated in a particular territorial division.
R.S., c. C-34, s. 284.
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Theft by bailee of
things under seizure
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324. Every one who is a bailee of anything
that is under lawful seizure by a peace officer or public officer in the
execution of the duties of his office, and who is obliged by law or
agreement to produce and deliver it to that officer or to another person
entitled thereto at a certain time and place, or on demand, steals it if
he does not produce and deliver it in accordance with his obligation, but
he does not steal it if his failure to produce and deliver it is not the
result of a wilful act or omission by him.
R.S., c. C-34, s. 285.
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Agent pledging goods,
when not theft
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325. A factor or an agent does not commit
theft by pledging or giving a lien on goods or documents of title to goods
that are entrusted to him for the purpose of sale or for any other
purpose, if the pledge or lien is for an amount that does not exceed the
sum of
(a) the amount due to him from his principal
at the time the goods or documents are pledged or the lien is given; and
(b) the amount of any bill of exchange that he
has accepted for or on account of his principal.
R.S., c. C-34, s. 286.
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Theft of
telecommunication service
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326. (1) Every one commits theft who
fraudulently, maliciously, or without colour of right,
(a) abstracts, consumes or uses electricity or
gas or causes it to be wasted or diverted; or
(b) uses any telecommunication facility or
obtains any telecommunication service.
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Definition of "telecommunication"
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(2) In this section and section 327,
"telecommunication" means any transmission, emission or
reception of signs, signals, writing, images or sounds or intelligence of
any nature by wire, radio, visual or other electromagnetic system.
R.S., c. C-34, s. 287; 1974-75-76, c. 93, s. 23.
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Possession of device to
obtain telecommunication facility or service
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327. (1) Every one who, without lawful excuse,
the proof of which lies on him, manufactures, possesses, sells or offers
for sale or distributes any instrument or device or any component thereof,
the design of which renders it primarily useful for obtaining the use of
any telecommunication facility or service, under circumstances that give
rise to a reasonable inference that the device has been used or is or was
intended to be used to obtain the use of any telecommunication facility or
service without payment of a lawful charge therefor, is guilty of an
indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding two
years.
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Forfeiture
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(2) Where a person is convicted of an offence under
subsection (1) or paragraph 326(1)(b), any instrument or device in
relation to which the offence was committed or the possession of which
constituted the offence, on such conviction, in addition to any punishment
that is imposed, may be ordered forfeited to Her Majesty, whereupon it may
be disposed of as the Attorney General directs.
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Limitation
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(3) No order for forfeiture shall be made under
subsection (2) in respect of telephone, telegraph or other communication
facilities or equipment owned by a person engaged in providing telephone,
telegraph or other communication service to the public or forming part of
the telephone, telegraph or other communication service or system of such
a person by means of which an offence under subsection (1) has been
committed if such person was not a party to the offence.
1974-75-76, c. 93, s. 24.
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Theft by or from person
having special property or interest
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328. A person may be convicted of theft
notwithstanding that anything that is alleged to have been stolen was
stolen
(a) by the owner of it from a person who has a
special property or interest in it;
(b) by a person who has a special property or
interest in it from the owner of it;
(c) by a lessee of it from his reversioner;
(d) by one of several joint owners, tenants in
common or partners of or in it from the other persons who have an interest
in it; or
(e) by the directors, officers or members of a
company, body corporate, unincorporated body or of a society associated
together for a lawful purpose from the company, body corporate,
unincorporated body or society, as the case may be.
R.S., c. C-34, s. 288.
329. [Repealed, 2000, c. 12, s. 94]
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Theft by person required
to account
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330. (1) Every one commits theft who, having
received anything from any person on terms that require him to account for
or pay it or the proceeds of it or a part of the proceeds to that person
or another person, fraudulently fails to account for or pay it or the
proceeds of it or the part of the proceeds of it accordingly.
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Effect of entry in account
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(2) Where subsection (1) otherwise applies, but one
of the terms is that the thing received or the proceeds or part of the
proceeds of it shall be an item in a debtor and creditor account between
the person who receives the thing and the person to whom he is to account
for or to pay it, and that the latter shall rely only on the liability of
the other as his debtor in respect thereof, a proper entry in that account
of the thing received or the proceeds or part of the proceeds of it, as
the case may be, is a sufficient accounting therefor, and no fraudulent
conversion of the thing or the proceeds or part of the proceeds of it
thereby accounted for shall be deemed to have taken place.
R.S., c. C-34, s. 290.
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Theft by person holding
power of attorney
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331. Every one commits theft who, being
entrusted, whether solely or jointly with another person, with a power of
attorney for the sale, mortgage, pledge or other disposition of real or
personal property, fraudulently sells, mortgages, pledges or otherwise
disposes of the property or any part of it, or fraudulently converts the
proceeds of a sale, mortgage, pledge or other disposition of the property,
or any part of the proceeds, to a purpose other than that for which he was
entrusted by the power of attorney.
R.S., c. C-34, s. 291.
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Misappropriation of
money held under direction
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332. (1) Every one commits theft who, having
received, either solely or jointly with another person, money or valuable
security or a power of attorney for the sale of real or personal property,
with a direction that the money or a part of it, or the proceeds or a part
of the proceeds of the security or the property shall be applied to a
purpose or paid to a person specified in the direction, fraudulently and
contrary to the direction applies to any other purpose or pays to any
other person the money or proceeds or any part of it.
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Effect of entry in account
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(2) This section does not apply where a person who
receives anything mentioned in subsection (1) and the person from whom he
receives it deal with each other on such terms that all money paid to the
former would, in the absence of any such direction, be properly treated as
an item in a debtor and creditor account between them, unless the
direction is in writing.
R.S., c. C-34, s. 292.
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Taking ore for
scientific purpose
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333. No person commits theft by reason only
that he takes, for the purpose of exploration or scientific investigation,
a specimen of ore or mineral from land that is not enclosed and is not
occupied or worked as a mine, quarry or digging.
R.S., c. C-34, s. 293.
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Punishment for theft
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334. Except where otherwise provided by law,
every one who commits theft
(a) is guilty of an indictable offence and
liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years, where the
property stolen is a testamentary instrument or the value of what is
stolen exceeds five thousand dollars; or
(b) is guilty
(i) of an indictable offence and is liable to
imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or
(ii) of an offence punishable on summary
conviction,
where the value of what is stolen does not exceed
five thousand dollars.
R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 334; R.S., 1985, c. 27
(1st Supp.), s. 43; 1994, c. 44, s. 20.
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Having in Possession
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Possession of property
obtained by crime
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354. (1) Every one commits an offence who has
in his possession any property or thing or any proceeds of any property or
thing knowing that all or part of the property or thing or of the proceeds
was obtained by or derived directly or indirectly from
(a) the commission in Canada of an offence
punishable by indictment; or
(b) an act or omission anywhere that, if it
had occurred in Canada, would have constituted an offence punishable by
indictment.
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Obliterated vehicle identification number
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(2) In proceedings in respect of an offence under
subsection (1), evidence that a person has in his possession a motor
vehicle the vehicle identification number of which has been wholly or
partially removed or obliterated or a part of a motor vehicle being a part
bearing a vehicle identification number that has been wholly or partially
removed or obliterated is, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary,
proof that the motor vehicle or part, as the case may be, was obtained,
and that such person had the motor vehicle or part, as the case may be, in
his possession knowing that it was obtained,
(a) by the commission in Canada of an offence
punishable by indictment; or
(b) by an act or omission anywhere that, if it
had occurred in Canada, would have constituted an offence punishable by
indictment.
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Definition of "vehicle identification
number"
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(3) For the purposes of subsection (2), "vehicle
identification number" means any number or other mark placed on a
motor vehicle for the purpose of distinguishing the motor vehicle from
other similar motor vehicles.
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Exception
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(4) A peace officer or a person acting under the
direction of a peace officer is not guilty of an offence under this
section by reason only that the peace officer or person possesses property
or a thing or the proceeds of property or a thing mentioned in subsection
(1) for the purposes of an investigation or otherwise in the execution of
the peace officer's duties.
R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 354; 1997, c. 18, s. 23.
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Punishment
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355. Every one who commits an offence under
section 354
(a) is guilty of an indictable offence and
liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years, where the
subject-matter of the offence is a testamentary instrument or the value of
the subject-matter of the offence exceeds five thousand dollars; or
(b) is guilty
(i) of an indictable offence and is liable to
imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or
(ii) of an offence punishable on summary
conviction,
where the value of the subject-matter of the offence
does not exceed five thousand dollars.
R.S., 1985, c. C-46, s. 355; R.S., 1985, c. 27
(1st Supp.), s. 49; 1994, c. 44, s. 21.
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