Finders Keepers? Scavenging laws?

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?”

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.

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

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?

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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.