h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My flatmate said he'd leave his share of the rent in an envelope on the kitchen table. Maybe he wandered by your house by mistake?

Wait..... you're sure it isn't Canadian dollars?

*sits on her Matt to write a begging letter*

Dear Mol,

I seem to be running low on my . If could you see your way to leaving a small donation of a couple of bottles, I would be eternally grateful.

love,

lil xx


*hic*

The PCSO says:
Keep it safe
Don't talk to people about it (except those we think might be able to help solve the mystery)
It might be a scam (ie somebody calls round next week claiming to have accidentally deposited an envelope containing twice as much cash - have to say, they'd get very short shrift)
If somebody comes round to claim it, ask them lots of hard questions about the envelope and its contents
If no luck identifying the mystery doner, take it to the police 'although as it's not a crime they may not give you an incident number'.

As it's not a crime I probably won't involve the police again. Because actually, nice and honest person though I am, I don't have a huge amount of sympathy for somebody who delivers something without clearly indicating what it is and who it's for - that's just stupid. I feel obliged to rule out anything to do with the village groups I'm associated with, and my immediate neighbours, but once I've done that, if the police aren't concerned that it could be something to do with something illegal, I consider it to be an unexpected gift.

But - our enquiries continue ...

Mol

"There is law relating to 'theft by finding'. In essence if a lost item is picked up and kept by someone who knows it isn't theirs, it is theft (by finding). Reasonable steps have to be taken to find the owner as a defence"

Indeed. And, as I pointed out, it is well established that in the event that there is no reasonable way to establish ownership (e.g. the item is undistinguished and unmarked, such as a wallet containing no identification but only cash), the finder is committing no offence by simply keeping it. It is NOT the responsibility of the finder to try to investigate. If there's a clear indication of ownership (e.g. a name tag, address label, etc.) then they're responsible for either returning it to the owner or handing it to the police. Absent any identifying marks - finders keepers.

Furthermore, all of the above applies if you find the stuff out in the open, in, say, a park. That's not the case here - this stuff was PUSHED DELIBERATELY INTO YOUR HOUSE. Frankly I'd be on the page that even if someone comes to the door and asks for it back, I'm within my rights to say "No." Or come to that "I have no idea what you're talking about, now go away." Or indeed to simply not answer the door.

So, when the doorbell rang at 2pm this afternoon I was slightly freaked and worried that there would be someone with a baseball bat on the doorstep.

Hoo, I'm not disputing I have a legal right to keep it - it was delivered to my home, and if that was unintentional there is no indication of the correct delivery address for me to rectify the mis-delivery. So I do not think there is any legal obligation on me here. But that does not remove the moral one. I am well-known in my community as a charity trustee, school governor and former guide leader. It is conceivable that the cash was delivered here in connection with one of those activities and I think there will be a reasonable expectation from my friends and neighbours that I make some effort to make sure that this was not the case, before I go off on a spree. I think that holds good even though the person who delivered it was clearly wrong to do so without including any information. Just because somebody else was stupid or careless is not a good reason for me not to use my brains or take a bit of care.

However, the cash has been in the house for 48 hours, and nobody has contacted me to say 'Did you get that envelope?', and I'm running out of people to ask ...

I am grateful for the responses here, you've all helped to clarify my thinking. I don't think there is a right or wrong answer - my own feelings would probably be very different if I lived in a different place - and I think the range of responses reflects that.

Mol

Anything that comes through my letterbox is mine... Unless it's junk mail.

Actually I seem to recall cases of "eccentrics" who chose exactly this method of charitable giving to people who they considered to be deserving, and they would provide a precedent for the case that indeed this was no accident at all, and that someone who wishes to remain anonymous has put this money in your possession for you to use as you see fit.

I note that you are involved in many charities and such a donor (in these hard-pressed times) might well feel that you are best-placed to judge what would be the best use.

But the whole thing raises in my mind a current dispute that I am having over the clamping of my car on Thursday under the justification that I was "keeping it on the public highway without Road Tax", when in fact it was being taxed Online more or less at the very moment when the clamp was put on. The word "keep" and the action of "keeping" implies some kind of sustained rather than purely temporary time-element.

"Finders keepers" is an old saying, but in such a case the most sensible thing is to keep the money safe and secure, which would not be the same as "keeping it"- the first showing a provisional and temporary state of affairs, and the second a decision to permanently acquire.

These days people talk about "paper trails", but in this case some human hand actually pushed this through your door, and if, as has been suggested it was the wrong door, those actively involved in this affair are likely to work out eventually that something has gone amiss.

As for the sound advice of others, back in my schoolteaching days asking if anyone had lost something was perforce vague so that anyone claiming it could prove their claim by their precise knowledge of what had been lost and found.

As for the Police much would depend upon the nature of your local policing. Around here they seem to have little or no interest in lost property (or dogs)and are not required to be authorities on the law. Being told by a Policeman (or in my clamping experience by a Community Support Officer) that you can do something is well-known to be no defence in law- and perhaps with good-reason in these days when "bad apples" undermine public confidence.

Cass

Just to check, you say you found it on the kitchen table, right? You are sure that it came through the front door and was brought to the table by one of your family, aren't you?

Yes, we questioned Sic closely about where exactly it had been lying on the doormat, to see if that provided any clues about whether it had been delivered before or after the post (which comes at 12 noon). It didn't.

Mol

I always enjoy a good mystery.

~jwf~

Speaking of which, many of us are still waiting
to hear from LLWaz regarding a secret safe box
found in the chimney corner of their `new` house.
The thread: `Anyone know anything about old safes`
has gone dormant again without any resolution.
And I can`t even find it via h2g2Search.
I do hope we`ll get a more positive outcome here.

-jwf-

~jwf~, Old Safes: http://www.h2g2.com/dna/h2g2/brunel/F19585?thread=8291017 (that's Brunel, so...)

<ta