Carl:
Hello and thanks for your comments and point of view. I actually didn't
intend for this to be taken as cut and dry. I do come down on the side of the
land owners, but my reference to the EM Spectrum implies that there is always
another point of view. If you were unfortunate enough to be hit by a meteorite
on someone else's property, I believe you'd be entitled to damages for your
injury and pain and suffering. If you were walking on my property here in CT
and one of my black walnut trees fell on you, you could (and should) file a
claim against my home owners policy, but I don't think you'd get to keep the
black walnut tree which is probably worth about 10K for the wood.
In your example of the dollar bill, a fairly insignificant amount if you
can afford to see a doctor, the dollar probably goes to the finder. But if you
drop your Maui Jim sunglasses there, you still have the right to them and
neither the finder nor the doctor nor the landlord owns them. Of course most
communities have a procedure for claiming a lost and found, unlike a space
rock. This series of events changes if the object which hits you is from a
military satellite. They'd deny any responsibility but want it back anyhow.
There was a court case recently where a contractor was removing a wall in a
house and found a bunch of money which had been hidden in there for decades.
The contractor tried to claim it using the old legal defense of "finders
keepers losers weepers" but the courts said, no.
I guess we all have a slight bias when interpreting the law and what
constitutes ownership. This no doubt determines which side of this issue we
each come down on.
George
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