Oh Lord, don't talk to me about Cow Thighs
Once extracted, it becomes personal property (chattels) which does not attach to real property unless it's a fixture.
So, is the prospector identifiable? If so, did he die intestate? Any heirs? If not, the gold may have escheated to the State and you would be fighting State attorneys for partial ownership.
In the specifics of your hypothetical, I'm not sure the landowner has much more claim than you do, if any claim at all.
Lots of specific laws written to deal with toxic waste because of this problem. I believe they stemmed from the love canal investigation wherein everyone was passing the buck.
Probably not as many laws specific to the hypothetical because it's probably a relatively rare occurrence. But I do recall reading some law on this wherein the state and/or federal government have strong claims and the finder has to be careful to end up with anything. This pertained to findings in coastal waters though, of which there have been many, and not private property usually.
In England they had one not too long ago where the finder was allowed to keep some portion which he split with the landowner; the rest went to the government.
Oh Lord, don't talk to me about Cow Thighs
"Again I ask, who owns it."
I DO!
Please send me the package with the nuggets appropriately wrapped and I will dispose of them accordingly. Thank you in advance for your cooperation in this matter.
Please do not include any cow thighs. B-)
Oh Lord, don't talk to me about Cow Thighs
> Enter the surveyors. The one in the 1870's that set an original quarter corner within five feet of the miner's long lost and now covered-over gold, and the one who, in diligently searching for the corner 150 years later discovers the hidden gold on what is soon to be Lot 17 of your client's Shady Acres Subdivision.
Well?? Don't leave us hangin'. Did the surveyors 150 years later find the quarter-corner? Did they set there own? What if the whole subdivision is all messed up now, and where does lot 17 belong if someone comes along later and finds the original corner? Will lot 17 be encroaching on a senior property?
Oh Lord, don't talk to me about Cow Thighs
As it happened, Monty “The Moustach” Manybucks, the developer of Shady Acres owned on both sides of the section line in the area of the 1/4 corner. It was needed to determine the locations of the north and south 1/16's which were the common corners of adjacent owners. Sadly, the 1/4 was proportioned, all evidence of the original having long since disappeared.
Interestingly enough, the owner of lot 17, (which actually straddles the section line) unaware of his ancestry, built a huge McMansion to the east of the canyon with a wonderful view of the chasm that claimed his grand-uncle’s life.
Manybucks, the developer, as it turns out, is the great grandson of Nellie, the object of the prospector's desire.
You can’t make this stuff up.
Well, actually, you can.
🙂
Don
Hey, it's OK for me.........
Hey it's OK for me to be attracted to cow thighs, but the rest of you need to find something else to obsess about.:'(
When does the novel come out?
When does the novel come out?
If you hurry, you might get it published before Survey Noir, a project by another forum poster that I don't think has hit the market yet.
I don't want to speculate who would own the treasure but I can tell you one person who wouldn't and that is you. Let's say it isn't treasure but maybe just a dozen morel mushrooms. You're marching back to your truck with your equipment and a hat full of morel mushrooms and the landowner steps out into the trail from behind a tree. How would you explain the mushrooms in your hat? Same thing would apply to carrying a bag, box, or coffee can of treasure.:excruciating:
although I did get caught with a nice early season apple in my teeth by a landowner...he didn't even know he owned the tree and was elated when I showed him his corner, a yard or two beyond the drip line of the apple tree. 🙂