The Wheeling Daily Register

Concerning the Restoration of Found Property.

From the Philadelphia Ledger.

The moral obligations resting upon the finder of lost property are generally lost sight of when the interests of the finder happen to conflict too strongly with his principles. A tradesman writes to a contemporary that a customer in his shop recently found a small sum of money, whereupon a controversy at once arose as to who it belonged to. One claimed that the money, if not called for in a certain time, should be handed over to the shop keeper in whose place it was found; but another claimed that it belonged to the person who found it. Now, the question put to the editor was, who has a legal right to the money? The editor very properly answered that the money belonged neither to the finder nor to the shop keeper, but to the loser, and that, instead of waiting for it to be called for, the finder should advertise it and take all possible pains to discover the owner. There is a good deal of loose reasoning on this subject of finding lost articles, and also on the subject of rewards for restoring them, but the sound doctrine is always to do as you would be done by -- to take pains to restore the lost article to its rightful owner. As to the law on the subject, neither the finder nor the shop keeper should delay the work of restoration by any quarrel about present custody. Goods or money found on the public highway may be held by the finder against everybody but the rightful owner of the property, unless some statute declares to the contrary. Good or money found on private premises may be held by the owner of the premises against everybody but the rightful owner of the lost property. Thus it will be seen that, in any event where property lost by accident is concerned, the owner comes ahead of every one else.