Finders keepers
Encyclopedia
Finders, keepers is the adage with the premise that when something is unowned or abandoned, whoever finds it can claim it. This idiom relates to an ancient Roman law of similar meaning and has been expressed in various ways over the centuries. Of particular difficulty is how best to define when exactly something is unowned or abandoned, which can lead to legal or ethical disputes.
Application
- One of the most common uses of "Finders, Keepers" involves shipwreckShipwreckA shipwreck is what remains of a ship that has wrecked, either sunk or beached. Whatever the cause, a sunken ship or a wrecked ship is a physical example of the event: this explains why the two concepts are often overlapping in English....
s. Under international maritime law, for shipwrecks of a certain age, the original owner may have lost all claim to the cargo. Anyone who finds the wreck can then file a salvage claim on it and place a lien on the vessel, and subsequently mount a salvageMarine salvageMarine salvage is the process of rescuing a ship, its cargo, or other property from peril. Salvage encompasses rescue towing, refloating a sunken or grounded vessel, or patching or repairing a ship...
operation.
- Philosophies that advocate a right to own land and other natural resources often appeal to the doctrine of finders keepers in the case of claiming ownership of what was previously unowned (see Terra nulliusTerra nulliusTerra nullius is a Latin expression deriving from Roman law meaning "land belonging to no one" , which is used in international law to describe territory which has never been subject to the sovereignty of any state, or over which any prior sovereign has expressly or implicitly relinquished...
).
- In the United States, the Homestead ActHomestead ActA homestead act is one of three United States federal laws that gave an applicant freehold title to an area called a "homestead" – typically 160 acres of undeveloped federal land west of the Mississippi River....
allowed people to claim land as their own as long as it was originally unowned and the property was then developed by the claimant.
Children's usage
The children's rhyme upon discovering a lost object is "Finders, keepers / Losers, weepers".External links
See also
- Parker v British Airways BoardParker v British Airways BoardParker v British Airways Board [1982] 1 QB 1004 is an English property law case decided by the Court of Appeal. The case establishes the rights that a person has to a chattel found on the surface of the land.-Facts:...
[1982] - BailmentBailmentBailment describes a legal relationship in common law where physical possession of personal property, or chattel, is transferred from one person to another person who subsequently has possession of the property...
- Lost, mislaid, and abandoned propertyLost, mislaid, and abandoned propertyLost, mislaid, and abandoned property are categories of the common law of property which deals with personal property which has left the possession of its rightful owner without having directly entered the possession of another person...
- Adverse possessionAdverse possessionAdverse possession is a process by which premises can change ownership. It is a common law concept concerning the title to real property . By adverse possession, title to another's real property can be acquired without compensation, by holding the property in a manner that conflicts with the true...
("possession is nine-tenths of the law") - Uti possidetisUti possidetisUti possidetis is a principle in international law that territory and other property remains with its possessor at the end of a conflict, unless otherwise provided for by treaty; if such a treaty doesn't include conditions regarding the possession of property and territory taken during the war,...