Talk:Lost, mislaid, and abandoned property

message: I'm unhappy about the quality of this whole article, but the section under "mislaid property" looks wrong to me. It cites precisely one authority McAvoy v. Medina, 93 Mass. (11 Allen) 548, (1866) for the proposition that "If the true owner does not return within a reasonable time (which varies considerably depending on the circumstances), the property becomes that of the owner of the premises.". But the case cited says nothing of the kind. As far as I can see it held that the shopkeeper must hold the lost property for the person who is the owner, but that *someone else* who handed it into the shop could not in the circumstances of the case maintain a claim against the shopkeeper. Almost the opposite of what is said. The cases cited from McAvoy appear to contradict the section as well.
Is this an editor not understanding relativity of title? Unless anyone objects, I would suggest it should be deleted. Francis Davey (talk) 07:45, 22 March 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Mislaid property 

message: The category of "treasure trove" is no in here. I will try to add it.  --Tony1343 02:01, 31 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Treasure trove

message: The current article doesn't say anything about the (typical or legislated) reward for finding lost property. In German this is called Finderlohn, and is typically set to 5 or 10 percent of the value of the lost property. This German word directly translated to finder's fee, but is that term also used in English/American law? --LA2 (talk) 03:09, 15 February 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Not so far as I am aware. It would vary by jurisdiction, of course. bd2412 T 03:59, 15 February 2010 (UTC)
thread_title: Rewards

message: Many places consider the finder of lost property to be a trustee, and under obligation to attempt to return the property.  Is there a possibility of facing penalties if the finder doesn't?  Would he be considered guilty of theft?
Citizen Premier (talk) 01:28, 27 February 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: I've looked into this a bit and the answer is muddled. New York imposes a fine of up to a hundred dollars for failing to report found property, see John V. Orth, Reappraisals in the Law of Property (2000), p. 9, and the IRS requires it to be reported as income for tax purposes. However, keeping something that was not acquired unlawfully would not be considered theft, at least under the common law, because theft requires that the taking of the thing itself be unlawful, done with the intent of depriving its true owner of possession. Although a finder of lost property who fails to report it might in theory be subject to some misdemeanor sanction, that does not seem to affect their common law rights to become owners of the property. bd2412 T 22:16, 1 March 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Obligation to return found property 

message: I have added a globalize tag to this article. This article is of generally low quality regarding the law in the USA (almost no actual legal content or authorities cited, no viable attempt to explain theft in relation to lost property, general over-reliance on the law of evidence rather than the common law among other issues.)
This article is close enough to English law to give the impression that it might be correct to England, whereas it is not. This article is totally useless to situations that involve Common Law and Civil Law. For example South Africa.
This article should be directed to show the correct way of dealing with lost property, police forces publish this legal procedure.currently it is close to encouraging people to commit theft. (finders keepers has no legal basis, nor does the quote regarding possession really assist this article (I am unsure it is relevant at all), unless it was classed as a requirement for evidence.)
A Guy into Books (talk) 13:50, 15 July 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Globalize Tag 

message: I’m looking for a phone number for unclaimed property 68.2.150.172 (talk) 19:37, 17 November 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Unclaimed property