If someone was dumb enough to place their silver on public property then I'd happily relieve them of it. If you are digging around someone's privet property, you best hope they don't shoot to kill trespassers and move the heck along!
A lot of that is how theft is defined in your jurisdiction. In Maryland in the USA it is pretty simple as there are really only two elements of the crime. I have a feeling it is pretty much the same in most English speaking countries and states. You must take property that does not belong to you and you must have the intent to permanently deprive the owner of that property. So if you take it and leave a contact note and have every intention to give it all back than no problem. If you take it and intend to keep it "finders keepers, losers weepers" you are stealing. The problem than becomes how does the rightful owner and/or police find you to charge you. If the bullion has serial numbers than that's pretty easy to do through pawn records (assuming the pawn broker did his job right). If it is a bunch of coins or bars than that is much harder to deal with. I'm also not sure many police agencies would spend a lot of time or effort investigating that since the owner was dumb enough to leave it unprotected in a hole somewhere. I think a quick police report would be filed and that's as far as that goes since the solvability is close to zero anyway. For me I use the front page of a newspaper test for moral issues (not legal issues). If what I am about to do made it to the front page of the paper how would my mother feel about reading it and having all her friends talk to her about it. If it would make my mom embarassed or become a source of shame to her I wouldn't do it even if it was legal. If it is illegal than it is really easy to know what to do since we already have it written out for us.
I wouldn't take it without leaving a note or giving the cops a chance to find the owner before I claimed it. Unless it was the apocalypse, or I was otherwise homeless and starving.
Theft is taking possession of something that you know isn't yours. It has nothing to do with not knowing who the owner really is. I think you will find that is also the definition that the law will apply. I would like to think I would perhaps take possession of it with the intention of making sure it got back to the rightful owner. In practice, I can't say I always live up to the 10 commandments (the neighbour's wife isn't bad looking, either).
And the golden rule... the ethic of reciprocity: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Ultimately, you will find greater rewards along the path of compassion. "It is not so, as you might believe, that one is made happy through the unhappiness of others" - Seneca
I just want to remind you all about that time I think it was this year or last year, how a couple found 10 million dollars worth of gold coins than went on the new's and told everyone.. guess who knocked on there doors at night.. the government "hello since these are from the government mint back in the 1700s.. its government owned" lol..
First, remove the thin wire connected to the hand grenade. Wipe sweat from brow if still have both hands. Photograph stash. Leave note in bottle with email. Take it away and then examine stash for most recent item. Dispose of explosives safely, kids - remember to recycle! In India I understand that the habit is to wear silver, but have as much gold as silver tucked away. The tucking away part means that any road, house demolition or significant infrastructure development is as likely as not to unearth someone's forgotten gold treasure trove - if Uncle Dudley keels over and hasn't told the family how to find it, they usually don't. I'd keep it as a boxed-up trove for at least a couple of years, but if I didn't get a mail and a description by then...
All of you saying you wouldn't take it...yeah okay, I believe you . I didn't realize how many knights in shining armor are in these forums. That's like asking a junkie if he'd take a stash of heroin that he found. Finder's keepers. The only thing I would do first is scout the area and make sure I can get away with it safe and undetected. But honestly, you'd have a better chance of finding a stash of heroin than a stash of precious metals.
Maybe it is just the younger generation who feel more entitled to help themselves to other people's property. After all, they have free food and lodgings at home, free education, and if they can't get a job they get free housing and free money from the government. You can't blame them for thinking that anything they want belongs to them, it is what we have taught them. I would do what most people would do, remove the contents for safe keeping and leave contact details. If no one ever gets in touch with me then I would assume that they have passed away or forgotten about it. If they do get in touch they will have learned a valuable lesson.
or we can write a story. remember the certificate signed by spanner ?? we can always put the certificate there, and get another person to find it. wah-lah you have it, this is the property of spanner which was sold to you!!! bingo. in such a date. the certificate of entitlement entitled you to keep it. If you found those fifty...then you may swap them with your 50s... hahha. get away with it. if you replace them, you just exchanged them ?? like in a swap???
Though I mostly agree, I'd like to know more about this "free" education. Kinda feel like I've been ripped off now that I've finally cleared my HECS after 2 years of eating cardboard to survive.
LOL!!! As usual the baby boomer's blaming us Gen Y's... listen the reason we have to live like this is because of your generation.. I have a job and you know what I will never be able to afford to buy a house.. Your generation went to work in factory's and in 4-5 years bought a house out right or with a home loan. How about you come and try my shoes on see where it gets you.. a degree means nothing.. its now just a peice of paper.. you want to be a cleaner? you need a certificate and 2-4 years experience.. <<< that is just is an example of how bad things are thanks to you guys. When you were 20 years of age how many places could you of went and got a job? a dozen? 2 dozen? with no experience no degree no nothing you could of got a job and in 2-3 years could of made off 50% of a house. Now for the stash.. If you ever find a stash go give it to the government you white knight im sure they will return it to the owner and not say "OHH ITS GOVERNMENT PROPERTY" lol
Sorry to say that we are earning less than grandpa did. There are more billions of people competing with us, and due to the globalization. There are also more billionaire, no less bullionaire! Grandpa has no stash buried ? too bad for anyone.
Sorry to say Alor, but it's going to get far worse when you are not only competing with cheaper people offshore, but with increasingly sophisticated automation technology, and as housing costs continue to escalate around the few remaining centres of employment. But this is no justification in our current society (in Australia) for us to be profiting from the possible misfortune of others. Going forward, as things get tougher (and they will get tougher for the younger generations) we're going to have to learn to help each other out more and more, and this will require trust and mutual compassion.
I've never found $100 but I have found 1s 5s and 20s and they go straight into my wallet unless there is a clear source of who or where it came from. If I find $100 in a parking lot its mine, if I'm accidentally given a $100 in my change I give it back. If I found $100 in a wallet I would return the wallet with the $100 since it is in someone elses property If I found $100 in a pair of pants at the thrift store I would buy the pants and keep the $100. Probably doesn't make sense buy seems reasonable to me. The importance of returning the money seems to get lower the lower the amount or value of the items is. If you found a ring metal detecting worth $10,000 you would call that a score! If you found a suit case with $10,000 it would be more sketchy to keep.
so in saying that, 1s, 5s, or 20s, doesnt matter what is the quantity... you will still keep it ? this is at the floors in safeway/coles, which is clearly belong to someone and have fallen off from their pocket/bag. but they didnt know about it. and probably didnt come back looking for it.
do you know what happen after you leave it there with the manager ? and if no one come to claim for it ? and how do you proof that someone can claim say $100 or $20 or $50 belong to him/hers ?
The only possessions you really have are your health, skills, reputation and honor. When all things material are lost, these are the only assets you can rely on. Each of these is the product of your life up to the present based on your lifestyle in the past. Fail to invest in them and you will fail to endure hardship. Look around and see if a pensioner dropped it. Based on how honest surrounding people seem, I might ask if they dropped some cash, without mentioning the amount, to give them a chance to check and validate their claim. Failing that, unless I was starving, I'd hand it in to the cutest checkout bird there, so I looked good and had an in for some flirting. If she was cute but looked bitchy, I'd hand it in to whichever worker seemed to be struggling most with life, and delegate the ethical dilemma to them. $100 is a real cheap price to cash in your soul for if you don't need the money for basic survival. If you need the cash that bad, keep it, it's the universe providing. If you spend it on whiskey and hookers, enjoy yourself, cos the charge to your cosmic debt will be high.
