page_title: Scots property law
section_title: Treasure Trove
hierarchical_section_title: Scots property law / Ownerless Property / Treasure Trove
caption_attribution_description: St. Ninian's Isle, Shetland
context_page_description: Scots property law governs the rules relating to property found in the legal jurisdiction of Scotland. As a hybrid legal system with both common law and civil law heritage, Scots property law is similar, but not identical, to property law in South Africa and the American state of Louisiana.
  The term 'property' is wide-ranging but in this article, as in Scots law and many other jurisdictions, it does not solely describe land. Instead, in Scots law, the term 'a person's property' is used when describing objects or 'things' that an individual holds a right of ownership in. It is the rights that an individual holds in a 'thing' that are the subject matter of Scots property law.
  The terms objects or 'things' is also a wide ranging definition, and is based on Roman law principles. Objects can be physical or they can also be unseen but still capable of being owned. While this may appear to encompass a wide range of 'things', they can be classified and sorted according to a legal system's rules. In Scots property law, all 'things' can be classified according to their nature, discussed below, with four classes of property as a result:
  Corporeal heritable property
context_section_description: Other jurisdictions operate a concept of treasure trove, in which certain classes of treasure, such as precious metals, found within a state's territory falls to the state. Scots law does not make such a distinction, but still classifies any treasure as bona vacantia and therefore falls to the Crown. The law of treasure trove is therefore a sub-species of bona vacantia property.
  The most notable case concerning treasure trove is Lord Advocate v. University of Aberdeen and Budge (1963), also known as the St Ninian's Isle treasure case.
  In July 1958, a porpoise bone was found together with 28 other objects of silver alloy (12 brooches, seven bowls, a hanging bowl and other small metal work) underneath a stone slab marked with a cross on the floor of St. Ninian's Church on St. Ninian's Isle in Shetland. The objects were dated to c. AD 800. A legal dispute arose over the ownership of the objects between the Crown on the one hand, represented in Scottish courts by the Lord Advocate, and the finder (the University of Aberdeen, which had carried out the archaeological excavation) as well as the landowner, Budge. The Court of Session held that the bone should be regarded as treasure trove together with the silver objects and importantly belonged to the Crown. However, there is academic controversy surrounding this decision.
  The Crown is under no legal obligation to offer any rewards for treasure trove property it has claimed. However it may accept the recommendations of the Archaeological Panel and order that the museum taking ownership of the object should make an ex gratia payment to the finder. The size of the ex gratia payment is subject to various factors, such as the value of the object, any inappropriately handling of an object, any delays in reporting the find, damage to an object etc.
  The QLTR operates a Treasure Trove Unit, in conjunction with the National Museum of Scotland (NMS) in Edinburgh to receive, process and investigate all ownerless treasure and valuable objects found in Scotland. The QLTR and NMS produce guidance and codes of practice for treasure finders. The Treasure Trove Unit (TTU) has its own website.
caption: Cliffs of St. Ninian's Isle, photographed on 24 May 2006. The St. Ninian's Isle treasure, which is believed to date to about AD 800, was found on this island.
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