When is a find "yours" and when is it not?

[Duckshot]

When you find something in what instances does it belong to you and in what instances is it still the property of somebody else?

 

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[ArthurC]

I personally think if it’s a ring, and you can return it, that you should. I have two class rings ... I stopped trying to return them, it became a problem so I decided to keep them.

I think everything else is “finders keepers”.

Can you give us an example?

 

[Duckshot]

Well ArthurC, I don't MD but as a prospector I know that the gold I find under permission from the property owner belongs to me. But with MDing it's can be the same circumstance, or it could be very different circumstances.

How is the title to the property exchanged?

Edited- I mean morally. Not legally. How does ownership change hands?

 

[Duckshot]

I personally think if it’s a ring, and you can return it, that you should. I have two class rings ... I stopped trying to return them, it became a problem so I decided to keep them.

I think everything else is “finders keepers”.

Can you give us an example?

You know what ArthurC, I think I like that idea, it seems to coincide with common sense that if you worked to find it, and you worked to return it, that at some point you might have earned it through effort. But I'm not precisely sure.

 

[Trezurehunter]

My view is, that if you find anything it belongs to you, because you found it. Now ethics comes into play here also. If a ring or any item can be identified by any means, I always make an attempt to return it to the rightful owner. As you can see by my Honorable Mentions, I have returned 6 items to their rightful owners, but like ArthurC said, I am also sitting on a class ring that I found 10 years ago, and has the mans name in it. I have had my daughter contact him on FB 5 times in the last few years, and he does not respond. If he ever decides to respond, the ring is his. If not, it will just sit in my display case and wait.

 

[YumaMarc]

I believe that class rings, especially those of High School, mean a lot during the senior year, but after graduation, not so much. I've never seen anyone over 25 wearing a high school ring. Most are either sold, hocked, lost or relegated to the bottom of a junk jewelry box. Once someone enters college or becomes a part of the working world, the ring becomes sort of like Al Bundy's only claim to fame: "I played high school football!" Nobody cares! And nobody cares from what high school you graduated. And for the most part, neither do the ring's owner.

 

[Rick K]

Most state laws have a crime called “theft by finding”. Anytime you keep a found object without making a reasonable effort to find the owner, you run the risk of breaking such a law if it exists.

As a practical matter, for all our cheerful chatter about being beach pirates, etc. any personal item with identifying marks ought to lead the finder to making a reasonable effort to return it.

here’s what Wikipedia has to say...

“The finder of lost property acquires a possessory right by taking physical control of the property, but does not necessarily have ownership of the property. The finder must take reasonable steps to locate the owner.[SUP][1][/SUP] If the finder shows that reasonable steps to find the owner have been taken then the finder may establish that the required mens rea for theft, the intention to deprive the owner permanently, is absent.[SUP][2]”[/SUP]

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

If you lose something...say a cell phone or a firearm..and someone finds it, but does not make an attempt at finding the owner (typically by turning it into the police), they can technically be charged with theft in my state. Otherwise the excuse for being caught with lost/stolen property could always be "I found it laying in the road".


Insurance companies have filed claims against treasure found many decades after the loss was covered.

Probably some sort of English common law that is applicable to your question.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

I once lost an important object in the roadway. When I discovered the loss, I returned to the location only to find someone had picked it up. I reported it as "stolen". It was recovered several years later.

 

[Truth]

Everything I find is mine

 

[creskol]

I have never really thought of myself as being the owner of anything I find, but rather just a temporary custodian. .

 

[Arkie]

1. If and when I can identify or highly suspect that I've found a family heirloom no matter what it is I try my best to return it to the family. If they don't want it? duh....

2. I always inform and show the property owner what I've found. If it has a commercial appraised value I split 50/50. If it's something I want to keep I ask the owner if I can buy it. Often they will just give it to you.

3. I've never been without a place to hunt and have yet to be turned down on a permission request.

4. I often ask myself what I would say if a stranger knocked on my door and asked to dig holes in my yard and cart away whatever it was they found? I would have to ask some questions.

5. It's important to remind yourself that your not after "lost" property, whatever you dig up has a "home", the one you're currently at.

 

[Rick K]

Here’s a bit of “truth” I came across...

[h=1]2011 Louisiana Laws
Civil Code
CC 3419 — Lost things[/h]
[FONT=&quot]Universal Citation: LA Civ Code 3419 [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Art. 3419. Lost things [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]One who finds a corporeal movable that has been lost is bound to make a diligent effort to locate its owner or possessor and to return the thing to him.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]If a diligent effort is made and the owner is not found within three years, the finder acquires ownership.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Acts 1982, No. 187, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1983.[/FONT]

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

This is why "sssssh" is usually the best policy.

Legally I believe lost property is never "surrendered" and belongs to whoever lost it. If they filed an insurance claim it may now belong to the insurance company.

For coins - how do you prove who a single coin found at a park or beach belonged to?

As a practical solution: as long as no one reports you it belongs to you. With no defendant or complaint filed there is no prosecution.

 

[IMAUDIGGER]

If they filed an insurance claim it may now belong to the insurance company.

That was the situation in my case. The object belonged to an insurance company.
I doubt the finder was charged, even though they kept it for years before it was discovered and no attempt was made to find the owner.

 

[Truth]

Here’s a bit of “truth” I came across...

[h=1]2011 Louisiana Laws
Civil Code
CC 3419 — Lost things[/h]
[FONT=&quot]Universal Citation: LA Civ Code 3419 [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Art. 3419. Lost things [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]One who finds a corporeal movable that has been lost is bound to make a diligent effort to locate its owner or possessor and to return the thing to him.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]If a diligent effort is made and the owner is not found within three years, the finder acquires ownership.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Acts 1982, No. 187, §1, eff. Jan. 1, 1983.[/FONT]

If that was directed to “me” I’m old school law (finders keepers losers weepers). If I did permissions MIGHT be different.

 

[trdking]

I believe that one involves opening your mouth and the other keeping it shut