PropertyProf Blog

A Delightful Video of Found Property

I suppose you could use this video to illustrate the difficulty of identifying lost, mislaid, and abandoned property.  But, in reality, I'm posting this because it gives me warm and fuzzy feelings all over:

 

The charming follow-up is here. And the satisfying conclusion is here.

Steve Clowney

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Is It Abandoned, or Is It Theft?

From today's New York Times, a classic tale about abandoned property -- or is it?  New York seems to think appliances left curbside have not been abandoned, but rather given to the City, and that taking them constitutes theft.  The common law, of course, would beg to differ: it's axiomatic that when control over property has been voluntarily relinquished, it is abandoned, and belongs to its finder / next possessor.  Perhaps the City could argue that at the instant the appliances reach the curb, possession has been transferred to the City, and control over the appliances has not been voluntarily relinquished by the City.  I feel an exam hypo coming on.

Mark A. Edwards

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More on the Meteorite

Andrea Boyack (Catholic) has an interesting essay in the National Law Journal on ownership of the Lorton, VA, meteorite.  Check it out!

Ben Barros

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