[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Re: The Fight for Truth, Justice & the American Way, in Monahans!


> But the real silver bullet in our gun, is that there was a case tried in Texas
> about 15 years ago where some kids found a suitcase with $500,000 in cash on
> the side of a county road.  The county said that they owed it, since it was
> found on county property, and the kids said "finders keepers!"  Well, when the
> dust settled, the Judge found in favor of the kids, and they got the cash
> (minus their legal fees, of course)!

I hate to pour cold water on this but it seems to me that there is a significant 
legal difference here. The money had previously been owned by someone who 
had either lost it (careless!) or dicarded it (madness!). It has long been 
recognized in Common Law (in both the US and the UK) that someone who finds 
something that has either been lost or discarded may keep the property if the 
owner cannot be found within a certain time limit (6 months in the UK) or if the 
owner expresses a desire to pass on the property to the finder.

Finding something that is the result of "an Act of God" is, however, a different 
kettle of fish and it has been proven in several legal cases that the owner of a 
meteorite is the person, company or authority who owns the property on which the 
object fell (e.g. see Oregon Iron and Steel Company vs. Hughes). There have been 
some cases in which meteorites have been "mis-owned" but this has invariably 
been due to poor legal advice and/or and unwillingness to test the matter in a 
Court of Law.

Taken to the extreme, if you find a hole that has suddenly appeared in the 
middle of a road owned by the city authority then you wouldn't expect the city 
to turn around and tell you it is YOUR hole so you should fill it!

-- 
Phil Bagnall
http://www.ticetboo.demon.co.uk/