Naval Discipline Act 1957

76Restitution or compensation on conviction of larceny, etc.

(1)Where any person is convicted under this Part of this Act of unlawfully obtaining any property, whether by stealing it, receiving it knowing it to have been stolen, embezzling it, fraudulently misapplying it or otherwise, the Admiralty may—

(a)if the whole or any part of the property unlawfully obtained is found in the possession of the offender, order the property so found to be repaid or restored to the person appearing to the Admiralty to be its owner;

(b)if any property (other than money) appearing to the Admiralty to have been obtained by the conversion or exchange of any of the property unlawfully obtained is found as aforesaid, order the property so found to be delivered to the person appearing to the Admiralty to be the owner of the property unlawfully obtained ;

(c)if and so far as neither the property unlawfully obtained nor property of equivalent value in respect of which an order is made under paragraph (b) of this subsection is found in the possession of the offender, order that the offender be required to pay to the person appearing to the Admiralty to be the owner of the property unlawfully obtained such sum as or towards compensation as appears to the Admiralty to be just.

(2)Where a person is convicted as aforesaid and it appears to the Admiralty that any of the property unlawfully obtained was taken in exchange from the offender by any other person who did not then know it to have been unlawfully obtained, the Admiralty may—

(a)if the whole or any part of the property given in exchange by the said other person is found in the possession of the offender, order that on restitution of the property taken in exchange to the person appearing to the Admiralty to be its owner, the property so found be restored to the said other person ;

(b)if and so far as the said property is not so found, order that on restitution as aforesaid of the property taken in exchange the offender be required to pay to the said other person such sum as or towards compensation as appears to the Admiralty to be just.

(3)Where a person is convicted as aforesaid and it appears to the Admiralty that any of the property unlawfully obtained was purchased or taken in pawn from the offender by a person who did not then know it to have been unlawfully obtained, the Admiralty may order that on restitution of that property to the person appearing to the Admiralty to be its owner the offender be required to pay to the said other person such sum as or towards compensation as appears to the Admiralty to be just.

(4)Any sum payable by an offender by way of compensation under this section may be ordered to be paid out of money found in the possession of the offender or by means of deductions from his pay.

(5)The amount or aggregate amount of the compensation which an offender may be required to pay by an order or orders under this section otherwise than out of money found in his possession shall not in any case exceed one hundred pounds.

(6)Subject to regulations made by the Admiralty, the powers conferred on the Admiralty by the foregoing provisions of this section may be exercised—

(a)where the offender is tried by a court-martial or disciplinary court, by that court, by the officer who ordered that court or by the Commander-in-Chief or senior naval officer to whom the proceedings are transmitted under section sixty-six of this Act;

(b)where the offender is tried summarily under section forty-nine of this Act, by the officer in command of the ship or establishment to which he belongs,

as well as by the Admiralty, and references in those provisions to the Admiralty shall be construed accordingly.

(7)An order under this section shall not bar the right of any person, other than the offender or a person claiming through him, to recover any property delivered or paid in pursuance of such an order from the person to whom it is delivered or paid.