(1)Every person who, whether within or without Her Majesty's dominions, acquires any naval property, or solicits or procures any person to dispose of any naval property, or acts for any person in the disposing of any naval property, shall be guilty of an offence against this section unless he proves either—
(a)that he did not know, and could not reasonably be expected to know, that the chattels in question were naval property; or
(b)that those chattels had (by the transaction with which he is charged or some earlier transaction) been disposed of by order of or with the consent of the Admiralty or of some person in authority who had, or whom he had reasonable cause to believe to have, power to give the order or consent; or
(c)that those chattels had become the property of an officer who had retired or ceased to be an officer, or of a rating who had been discharged, or of the personal representatives of a person who had died.
(2)A person guilty of an offence against this section shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or to both such a fine and such imprisonment, or on conviction on indictment to a fine not exceeding five hundred pounds or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years, or to both such a fine and such imprisonment.
(3)In this section the following expressions have the meanings hereby respectively assigned to them—
" acquire " means, buy, take in exchange, take in pawn or otherwise receive (whether apart from this section the receiving is lawful or not);
" dispose " means, sell, give in exchange, pledge or otherwise hand over (whether apart from this section the handing over is lawful or not);
" naval property " means any chattel of any description belonging to Her Majesty, which has been issued for use for naval purposes or is held in store for the purpose of being so issued when required, and includes any chattel which had belonged, and had been issued or held, as aforesaid at some past time.