Finders keepers

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This article is about the quasi-legal concept. For other meanings, see Finders Keepers.

Finders, keepers is the adage with the premise that when something is unowned or abandoned, whoever finds it can claim it. Of particular difficulty, of course, is how best to define when exactly something is unowned or abandoned, which can lead to legal or ethical disputes.

[edit] Application

One of the most common uses of "Finders, Keepers" involves shipwrecks. Under international maritime law, for shipwrecks of a certain age, the original owner may have lost all claim to the cargo. Anyone who finds the wreck can then file a salvage claim on it and place a lien on the vessel, and subsequently mount a salvage operation.

Occasionally, in the case of winning lottery tickets, someone else will claim to be the true owner. Assuming that this is true, the possessor of the ticket can claim that the original owner abandoned the ticket, thus laying the groundwork for a "finders, keepers" claim.

Philosophies that advocate a right to own land and other natural resources often appeal to the doctrine of finders keepers in the case of claiming ownership of what was previously unowned (see Terra nullius).

In the United States, the Homestead Act allowed people to claim land as their own as long as it was originally unowned and the property was then developed by the claimant.