Taking possession, etc., of drift timber
339 (1) Every person is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for a term of not more than five years or is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction who, without the consent of the owner,
(a) fraudulently takes, holds, keeps in their possession, conceals, receives, appropriates, purchases or sells any lumber or lumbering equipment that is found adrift, cast ashore or lying on or embedded in the bed or bottom, or on the bank or beach, of a river, stream or lake in Canada, or in the harbours or any of the coastal waters of Canada;
(b) removes, alters, obliterates or defaces a mark or number on such lumber or lumbering equipment; or
(c) refuses to deliver such lumber or lumbering equipment up to the owner or to the person in charge of it on behalf of the owner or to a person authorized by the owner to receive it.
Dealer in second-hand goods
(2) Every one who, being a dealer in second-hand goods of any kind, trades or traffics in or has in his possession for sale or traffic any lumbering equipment that is marked with the mark, brand, registered timber mark, name or initials of a person, without the written consent of that person, is guilty of an offence punishable on summary conviction.
Search for timber unlawfully detained
(3) A peace officer who suspects, on reasonable grounds, that any lumber owned by any person and bearing the registered timber mark of that person is kept or detained in or on any place without the knowledge or consent of that person, may enter into or on that place to ascertain whether or not it is detained there without the knowledge or consent of that person.
Evidence of property in timber
(4) Where any lumber or lumbering equipment is marked with a timber mark or a boom chain brand registered under any Act, the mark or brand is, in proceedings under subsection (1), and, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, proof that it is the property of the registered owner of the mark or brand.
Presumption from possession
(5) Where an accused or his servants or agents are in possession of lumber or lumbering equipment marked with the mark, brand, registered timber mark, name or initials of another person, the burden of proving that it came lawfully into his possession or into possession of his servants or agents is, in proceedings under subsection (1), on the accused.
Definitions
(6) In this section,
coastal waters of Canada includes all of Queen Charlotte Sound, all the Strait of Georgia and the Canadian waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca; (eaux côtières du Canada)
lumber means timber, mast, spar, shingle bolt, sawlog or lumber of any description; (bois)
lumbering equipment includes a boom chain, chain, line and shackle. (matériel d’exploitation forestière)
Annotations | French
- Section 339
- A mistake of law is not a defence to the offence of theft of timber. For example, removing logs which were lodged at the end of boom line and towing them down river, believing that you are allowed to do so is a mistake of law and therefore not a defence: The Queen v Shymkowich, 1954 CanLII 77 (SCC)
- In contrast however, where the accused acts on the reasonable belief that the owners of the logs have given their permission to salvage logs and receive a portion of the proceeds the mental element of the offence cannot be established: Gaunt and Watts v. The Queen, 1953 CanLII 40 (SCC)