Finders Keepers and King Cake Babies

Finders law is always fun teach. It’s fun in part because everyone, even my seven-year-old daughter, knows the rule “finders keepers.” It’s also fun because the law of finders gives an easy avenue into topics I particularly enjoy, namely equity and comparative property law.

Teaching finders law frequently begins by demonstrating that there is legal support for the playground rule “finders keepers” (except with regards to the true owner) in old English cases like Armory v. Delamirie or Hannah v. Peel. Then comes the discussion on equity. What if the property was actually mislaid? Enter McAvoy v. Medina and the equitable notion that someone who mislays his property does not lose his ownership over that property. You can come up with hours of hypotheticals on the types of property that might be found and what the fair result should be.

The other opportunity finders law presents is the opportunity to discuss how other legal systems approach the same problem. The common law that most American law students study takes the ex post, jurisprudence-driven approach: a set of facts arise and the court makes a determination about how to resolve those facts based on past jurisprudence. This is what most law students are familiar with. But finders law provides an easy way to introduce American law students to the ex ante, statute-driven approach of the civil law. Sure, almost any topic in property law provides this opportunity, but finders law is a particularly easy way for students to be introduced to civil law property ideas.

Civil law systems, as might be expected, approach finders law from the question of classification. Things can be treasures, things can be lost, things can be abandoned. What classification the property is given determines what rights the finder has in the property.

Under French Code Civil article 716, a “treasure” is defined as any hidden or buried thing, the ownership of which cannot be proven. If a treasure is found on the estate of another, half of the treasure belongs to the finder and half belongs to the owner of the estate on which the treasure was found. See also La. Civ. Code art. 3420. The Spanish Código Civil creates a similar definition of treasure, defining it as any money, jewelry, or precious object whose owner is unknown. See Código Civil art. 352. Under Spanish law, treasure belongs to the owner of the land in which the treasure was found. Código Civil art. 351.

The French and the Spanish legal systems both create the idea that things may not be treasure, but instead may be abandoned. The French Civil Code does not provide a specific remedial rule in this context, but the Spanish Código Civil does: occupancy. If property is abandoned (meaning the prior owner gave up his possession), the abandoned thing is owned by no one and thus subject to the civilian laws of occupancy. Under occupancy, the finder eventually becomes the owner of the thing, but not without waiting some time period so that the true owner can attempt to be found See Código Civil art. 615 (requiring a two year waiting period).

German law has an entire subtitle on finders in the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch (BGB). If a thing is a “lost thing,” then the finder must try to find the owner, BGB § 965, and has a series of duties with regards to the lost thing, such as keeping it in safe custody or putting the lost thing up for public auction if the lost thing may be spoiled or too expensive to keep in safe custody, BGB § 966. If the owner of the lost thing does not appear after six months, the finder becomes the owner. BGB § 973.

However, under German law, if the thing is a treasure, then the finder immediately becomes the owner of half of the treasure and the owner of the thing in which the treasure was found owns the other half. BGB § 984. A treasure in German law is defined as a thing that has been hidden for so long its owner cannot be established.

The civil law outcomes are not terribly different than those at common law, but the civil law ex ante classification of lost property versus abandoned property versus treasure, and remedies based on the classification, highlights in a relatively simplistic manner the different approaches of the civil law and common law. The ultimate ends may be similar between the different systems, but the means taken to get there are different.

Given that Property is a spring semester 1L course at my institution, Property is always taught during the Mardi Gras season. Thus, finders law also gives an excuse to bring in a real life problem that is very dear to the hearts of all who call New Orleans home: who owns the King Cake baby? The finder? The maker of the King Cake? Do you take the Solomon approach and split the King Cake baby in two? These are some of the important property questions facing Carnival goers. And don’t worry—we have a law on the topic, even if it is a law created by tradition. The rule is that if you find the King Cake baby, you keep it, but you have the duty to bring in the next King Cake.

While thinking about King Cake and finders law, I realized that not all bakeries across the United States are busy making the scrumptious delight we in New Orleans enjoy on almost a daily basis between Epiphany and Mardi Gras. Thus, I thought I would help folks out by sharing my own King Cake recipe so you, too, can enjoy the holiday. It’s really not that hard to make—I’m a terrible cook, but as the photo indicates, my King Cake turned out pretty well—and can be eaten with or as any meal of the day. So go home, make yourself a King Cake, contemplate finders law, and laissez les bon temps rouler!

 

Sally’s King Cake Recipe (based on the recipe of a far better cook, Betty Crocker, with a few modifications)

Cake Ingredients

3 to 3 ½ cups of flour

2 ¼ teaspoon of rapid rise yeast

1 cup of whole milk

¼ cup of sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 large eggs

6 tablespoons of unsalted butter

Cinnamon Filling Ingredients

1 cup light brown sugar

1 ½ teaspoons of ground cinnamon

5 tablespoons of unsalted butter (softened)

Icing Ingredients

2 cups powdered sugar

2 tablespoons of milk

1 teaspoon of vanilla

Sugar Topping Ingredients

1 ½ cup of sugar divided into three ½ cup amounts

food coloring

Heat milk, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan over medium-low heat for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring regularly to make sure the sugar dissolves.

Put 2 ½ cups of flour and yeast into mixing bowl. Add milk/sugar/salt while it is still hot. Mix until ingredients all combined. If using a stand mixer, mix on low using a paddle attachment.

Add eggs, one at a time, mixing in until the eggs are fully incorporated.

Add the remaining ½ to 1 cup of flour and the butter. To add the flour and butter, add a spoonful of flour, then a tablespoon of butter, then a spoonful of flour, then a tablespoon of butter, etc., until ingredients are fully mixed in and the dough is forming into a single ball. If using a stand mixed, mix on low using the dough hook.

Once all of the ingredients have been incorporated, keep mixing for another 8 to 10 minutes.   If using a stand mixer, mix on low using the dough hook and be sure to stop the mixer periodically to scrape the dough off of the hook.

After mixing, put ball of dough into a bowl greased with butter. Cover bowl with saran wrap and put in the refrigerator for one hour. The ball of dough should double in size.

While waiting for the ball of dough to rise, make the cinnamon filling by mixing cinnamon, light brown sugar, and butter in a small bowl with a fork. The cinnamon filling is complete when it has the consistency of wet sand.

When the dough has risen, roll it out so that it is slightly larger than the bottom of a cookie sheet. Cut the dough length-wise into three strips. Take each strip and roll it out individually a little more.

Place the cinnamon filing in the middle of each strip of dough, then fold length-wise the edges of the strips of dough together. Press the edges together carefully. If you don’t carefully secure the edges, the cinnamon filing will come out of the cake more than you want it to during the baking process.

Take the three cinnamon-filled strips of dough and braid them together. Take both ends of the braid and attach them together so that the braided dough makes an oval shape.

Place braided dough in its oval shape on a greased cookie sheet. Cover it in saran wrap and let it sit for 1 or 2 hours, allowing the dough to rise more.

Bake the dough at 350 degrees for 22 to 25 minutes, then put foil over it and bake for an additional 5 minutes.

After removing the King Cake from the oven, let it sit for about 20 minutes on the cookie sheet in the open air. Then move the King Cake to a cooling rack and let it cool for an hour.

While the King Cake is cooling, make the three sugar toppings (yellow, green, and purple) by taking ½ cup of sugar and adding drops of food coloring to it. Using your fingers, rub the food coloring into the sugar. For yellow, use 5 to 7 drops of yellow food coloring. For green, use about 5 to 7 drops of green food coloring. For purple, use 3 drops of blue food coloring and 5 drops of red food coloring.

After making the sugar topping, make the icing. To make the icing, add the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla in a bowl and stir using a fork.

As soon as the icing is ready, move the King Cake to whatever dish you wish to serve the King Cake on. Then, using a spoon, spoon the icing on to the cake. The icing will naturally fall to the sides. As soon as the icing is on the cake, add the sugar topping, alternating between yellow, green, and purple.

Serve immediately. The King Cake is best eaten the day it is made, though you can carefully cover it and eat it for a few more days. If eating more than 24 hours after making it, heating a slice of King Cake for 5 to 10 seconds in the microwave is a very enjoyable way to serve it.