Tapping the Scales of Justice - A Dose of Connecticut Legal History
Hey Dan.
Here is a story I found while searching the term "Treasure Trove" on the State Of CT Website.
A Case of Tories, Treasure, and Trespass
When does "finders keepers, losers weepers" not apply?
In 1978, a case concerning a pre-Revolutionary statue of King George III found its way to the Connecticut Supreme Court. Back in 1776, patriots celebrating the signing of the Declaration of Independence demolished the King’s statue where it stood in lower Manhattan. The patriots’ plan was to deliver the statue pieces to Oliver Wolcott’s foundry in Litchfield. There the gilded lead pieces would be made into bullets. Enroute, the patriot group stopped in Wilton, and while they were busy drinking, loyalists managed to steal back pieces of the statue and scattered them throughout an area known as Davis Swamp.
There the pieces remained until 1972 when Louis Miller, armed with information from the Wilton Historical Society, entered onto land owned by Fred S. Favorite. Using a metal detector, Miller found a piece of the statue buried ten inches below the ground. When Favorite sued Miller for return of the statue fragment, the trial court focused on the issue of whether the statue piece was property that had been lost, abandoned, or mislaid. The trial court found the piece to be mislaid property and ruled that, under the law, it should be returned to the landowner Favorite.
On appeal, the defendant Miller characterized himself as a "selfless seeker after knowledge" and argued that as a "finder" he was entitled to keep the statue piece. The Connecticut Supreme Court was not persuaded by Miller’s arguments. The Court noted that Miller was not claiming the statue to be "treasure trove" and ruled that Miller’s trespass defeated any claim to the property that he might have had as a finder.
Guess I should have expected that from a Red Sox Fan!!
Is it because of those cold northern winters or just cold puritancial ways
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