CASESTUDY Money found buried on private property In 1964, a woman sold her New South Wales house to a couple. The couple hired a building company to work on the house. While digging, one of the owners of the building business found a tin with £8500 inside. • The original owner claimed that she had buried the tin and therefore the money belonged toher. • The couple who had bought the house claimed that the money was theirs because it was found on their land. • The owner of the building business claimed the money belonged to him because he had found it.
FIGURE2 Who owns the contents of the box?
SkillBuilder discussion Participating in civic processes 1. Work with a partner to decide how long you think the box has been buried. 2. Discuss why there is a dispute over the ownership of the box. 3. You be the judge: who will you give the box to? Give a reason for your decision.
No laws covered this dispute, so the judge hearing the case was required to make a decision that would create a new law. The judge decided that the couple who now owned the house were allowed to keep the money because they owned the land.
CASESTUDY Gold found by the side of the road
In 1965, a Queensland police officer was walking to the place where he was going to direct traffic leaving a drive-in theatre. On the side of the road, on land belonging to the theatre, he found a gold ingot. The owner of the gold could not be found. • The owner of the land claimed ownership. • The police officer claimed ownership because he had found the ingot. • The police officer’s employer (the state) claimed ownership because the officer worked for the state. The judge hearing the case decided that the land was regularly accessed by the public and that the police officer could keep the gold ingot because his job was to direct traffic, not to find lost things. Any other member of the public might have found the ingot, and the fact that the officer was on duty was just a coincidence.
FIGURE3 Does a gold ingot found on someone’s property belong to the property owner or to the person who found it?
TOPIC18 Laws and citizens 535
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