Lawrence v. Buck
Supreme Judicial Court of Maine
On report. Beplevxn of a chain cable, to which both parties claimed the title by having found it in the Kennebec river, near the dam, in July, 1870. When the plaintiffs discovered it, the chain lay coiled up in a little pile near a place which is dry when the dam is out, as it then was, the end of the cable running off toward the dam, in water about a foot or eighteen inches deep.
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On report. Beplevxn of a chain cable, to which both parties claimed the title by having found it in the Kennebec river, near the dam, in July, 1870. When the plaintiffs discovered it, the chain lay coiled up in a little pile near a place which is dry when the dam is out, as it then was, the end of the cable running off toward the dam, in water about a foot or eighteen inches deep. They hauled out about sixty feet of the chain upon some logs that were-grounded and out of water there, the end being fast under water. As it was then growing dark they left for the night, and when they returned for…
1Opinion of the CourtDanforth, J.
This action is replevin of a chain cable which tire evidence shows to have been lost by the original owners. Such property belongs to the first finder as against all persons but the loser. The testimony in this case clearly shows that the defendants were the first finders, and (if it were necessary) that, before the finding of the plaintiffs, they had taken possession by such acts of ownership as the nature and condition of the property, under the circumstances, allowed; and further, that from the first they had no intention to abandon. It further appears that the first complete possession by…
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