24 January 2011

Finders Keepers? Scavenging laws?

| facet
Join the conversation
20
gold rings

Does anyone know the law in relation to finding valuable objects in the ACT?

One of my hobbies is metal detecting and in addition to lots of $1 and $2 coins, I sometimes find the occasional gold ring.

I would hate to burden the Federal Police with additional paperwork. Is there a value point cut off for reporting found objects. I mean surely there is no point in handing in small amounts of cash.

Join the conversation

20
All Comments
  • All Comments
  • Website Comments
LatestOldest

No idea Facet. But I would like to talk further as my wedding ring has gone astray in my garden. Please contact dabblers2@hotmail.com if able to help.

If I lost a ring I would hope someone would be honest enough to hand it in to police rather than be greedy and try and make a buck out of selling it. Hate to burden police with paperwork? Creepy much…

I really don’t know what you should do, as the rings were under ground, I’m pretty sure no one would have reported them missing, if they did it would have been a long time ago, but you could always try, it might be interesting just finding out.

Mysteryman said :

Too bad there is no such thing as karma.

Karma means that you can do bad things to people all day long and assume that they deserve it.

Inappropriate4:35 pm 25 Jan 11

Looks like there’s only about $60 worth of gold in those rings, so they’re practically worthless from a materialistic point of view.

Pippy said :

“I would hate to burden the Federal Police with additional paperwork. “

bahahaha what a helpful citizen you are.

104.7 were talking about this exact thing this morning, it was consensus that the karma police would take care of these decisions.

Too bad there is no such thing as karma.

“I would hate to burden the Federal Police with additional paperwork. “

bahahaha what a helpful citizen you are.

104.7 were talking about this exact thing this morning, it was consensus that the karma police would take care of these decisions.

Horcrux? nah, I don’t even think it’s gold as the electromagnetic signature is way too high.
Stone is a really cheap ruby and I suspect it was lost by one of our south east asian tourists.
The wedding ring was found outside an under 25 meet market venue and I figure the guy slipped it off hoping to “get lucky”.

I say finders keepers, losers weepers!

Captain RAAF7:51 am 25 Jan 11

cegee said :

i dont want to alarm anyone but i’m pretty sure the ring on the right is a horcrux.

and the one on the left is surely the ring of power, Sauron will be pleased!

hjholden said :

i believe not handing it in would loosely be considered theft by finding

Theres been a few big cases recently, with kids finding roughly $20k in the NSW bush and a case in Melbourne i believe where someone donated one of their suitcases to the salvos, not realising it contained nearly $100k. I’m pretty sure the person who found the case and didn’t hand it in was charged, cant see your found rings being any different.

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1230131/Theft-by-finding-It-s-in-the-bag

Would love to be rich enough to misplace $100k. “Now where did I put that small change?”

creative_canberran12:55 am 25 Jan 11

It is considered theft before the law. Indeed if the item has already being stolen and you have found it, you may in that case be liable for a charge of handling stolen property.

The Crimes Act defines theft as:
s72: (1) A person steals if he dishonestly appropriates property belonging to
another with the intention of permanently depriving the other of it.

For people finding lost objects, s73 is the vital part as you will not be considered acting dishonestly if you:

“appropriates the property in the belief that the
person to whom the property belongs cannot be discovered by taking
reasonable steps.”

In simple terms, reasonable steps would be handing the found property in to police who will hold it for a reasonable amount of time and then transfer ownership to you if appropriate if the owner is not discovered.

Gold buyers in Belconnen Mall will be drooling over your find!!

Really, unless the rings are engraved, anyone could say they’re theirs. Finders keepers, losers weepers.

i dont want to alarm anyone but i’m pretty sure the ring on the right is a horcrux.

georgesgenitals6:41 pm 24 Jan 11

Do the right thing, and hand the rings in. If noone claims them they will be yours free and clear. If they are claimed, then the rightful owner get’s what is theirs.

Everybody wins.

What possible value would a gold ring have? The owners aren’t likely to be keen to see it returned, right?

i believe not handing it in would loosely be considered theft by finding

Theres been a few big cases recently, with kids finding roughly $20k in the NSW bush and a case in Melbourne i believe where someone donated one of their suitcases to the salvos, not realising it contained nearly $100k. I’m pretty sure the person who found the case and didn’t hand it in was charged, cant see your found rings being any different.

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1230131/Theft-by-finding-It-s-in-the-bag

Holden Caulfield5:05 pm 24 Jan 11

Surely the coppers will be able to advise you what is and what isn’t a burden on their resources. If nothing else, don’t you think someone may be missing some jewelery?

131 444

john87_no1 said :

Only the most important law around – your conscience.

Yes of course, Jiminy Cricket 1955

Only the most important law around – your conscience.

Daily Digest

Want the best Canberra news delivered daily? Every day we package the most popular Riotact stories and send them straight to your inbox. Sign-up now for trusted local news that will never be behind a paywall.

By submitting your email address you are agreeing to Region Group's terms and conditions and privacy policy.