Modern Treasure Trove in the United States is not federally applied but varies by state.
United States
The law of treasure trove in the United States varies from state to state, but certain general conclusions may be drawn. To be treasure trove, an object must be of gold or silver.[76] Paper money is also deemed to be treasure trove since it represents gold or silver.[77] On the same reasoning, it might be imagined that coins and tokens in metals other than gold or silver are also included, but this has yet to be clearly established.[78] The object must be concealed for long enough so it is unlikely that the true owner will reappear to claim it.[79] The consensus appears to be that the object must be at least a few decades old.[80][81]
A majority of state courts, including those of Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Oregon and Wisconsin, have ruled that the finder of treasure trove is entitled to it. The theory is that the English monarch's claim to treasure trove was based on a statutory enactment which replaced the finder's original right. When this statute was not re-enacted in the United States after its independence, the right to treasure trove reverted to the finder.[82]
In Idaho[83] and Tennessee[84] courts have decided that treasure trove belongs to the owner of the place where it was found, the rationale being to avoid rewarding trespassers. In one Pennsylvania case,[85] a lower court ruled that the common law did not vest treasure trove in the finder but in the sovereign, and awarded a find of US$92,800 cash to the state. However, this judgment was reversed by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania on the basis that it had not yet been decided if the law of treasure trove was part of Pennsylvania law.[86] The Supreme Court deliberately refrained from deciding the issue.[87]
Finds of money and lost property are dealt with by other states through legislation. These statutes usually require finders to report their finds to the police and transfer to their custody the objects. The police then advertise the finds to try and locate their true owner. If the objects remain unclaimed for a specified period of time, title in them vests in the finders.[88] New Jersey vests buried or hidden property in the landowner,[89] Indiana in the county,[90] Vermont in the township,[91] and Maine in the township and the finder equally.[92][93] In Louisiana, French codes have been followed, so half of a found object goes to the finder and the other half to the landowner.[7] The position in Puerto Rico, the laws of which are based on civil law, is similar.[94]
Finders who are trespassers generally lose all their rights to finds,[95] unless the trespass is regarded as "technical or trivial".[96][97]
Where the finder is an employee, most cases hold that the find should be awarded to the employer if it has a heightened legal obligation to take care of its customers' property, otherwise it should go to the employee.[98] A find occurring in a bank is generally awarded to the bank as the owner is likely to have been a bank customer and the bank has a fiduciary duty to try and reunite lost property with their owners.[99] For similar reasons, common carriers are preferred to passengers[100] and hotels to guests (but only where finds occur in guest rooms, not common areas).[101][102]
The view has been taken that such a rule is suitable for recently misplaced objects as it provides the best chance for them to be reunited with their owners. However, it effectively delivers title of old artifacts to landowners, since the older an object is, the less likely it is that the original depositor will return to claim it. The rule is therefore of little or no relevance to objects of archaeological value.[26]
Due to the potential for a conflict of interest, police officers[103] and other persons working in law enforcement occupations,[104] and armed forces[105] are not entitled to finds in some states.[106]
By the Archaeological Resources Protection Act 1979,[107] finds more than a hundred years old on government land belong to the government. There is analogous state legislation. Special rules also apply to grave goods from Indian burials discovered on Federal and tribal lands under the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act[108] enacted on 16 November 1990.[109]