Finder of goods, in a public place or shop, acquires a special property in them, available against all the world, except the true owner, who may recover them at anytime within six years; the finder is bound, however, before appropriating them to his own use, to take all the means in his power to discover the owner. If the property had not been designedly abandoned, and the finder knew who the owner was, or with due exertion could have discovered him, he is guilty of larceny if he keep and appropriate the Articles to his own use, see R. v. Thurborn, (1849) 1 Den CC 387; R. v. Ashwell, (1886) 16 QBD 215.
Goods found on private property belong to the owner of such property, see South Staffordshire Water Co. v. Sharman, (1896) 2 QB 44, where two rings found in the mud of a pool by a workman employed amongst others to clean the pool out were recovered from the workman by the owners of the pool; and goods found buried in the earth belong to the Crown as against the finder, but not as against the true owner (see TREASURE TROVE); and goods found n a shop, though given up by the finder to the shopkeeper to advertise them, may be recovered from the shopkeeper by the finder, see Bridges v. Hawkesworth, (1851) 21 LJ QB 75, where a bundle of bank notes so found was recovered.
The buyer at an auction of a bureau with a secret drawer in it containing money is in law in the position of a finder, Merry v. Green, (1841) 7 M&W 623.
View Judgments Citing this Phrase View Acts Citing this Phrase