Question 2 (a)

Finder of goods: status like a bailee

6 marks

Time to write
About 12 minutes
Topic
Bailment and pledge
Notes
Crux notes

Question

Question 2 (a) · 6 marks

A finder of goods has the same status as a bailee. Comment.

Reworded from the university paper; the task is the same. The original paper belongs to the University of Delhi. See DU's question bank.

Before you write

Read off the question and its marks

12 minfor 6 marks

Read from the question

  • CommentA statement to judge: take a stand on it in your first line, give your reasons, and come back to it at the end.

Write it in this order

  1. Read; underline the asks; jot your points 1 min
  2. 1 Section 71: finder has a bailee's responsibility 2 marks 3 min
  3. 2 Duties of a finder 2 marks 3 min
  4. 3 Rights of a finder 2 marks 3 min
  5. Check: every ask answered, key terms underlined 2 min

Short on time? Trim steps 1–3 evenly rather than skip one: each is capped at its own marks.

Try it first. About 12 minutes for 6 marks. Write it out, then open the solution.

Solution

Hover or tap a marked figure, like 72,000, to see how it is made and where else it appears.

Comment. The statement is correct. Section 71 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 provides that “a person who finds goods belonging to another and takes them into his custody is subject to the same responsibility as a” bailee. No contract exists between the finder and the owner; the law imposes on the finder the obligations of a bailee, as a quasi-contractual relation.

Picture itFinder of goods: status like a bailee

1Pooja finds the blue bag at the bus stop—and pins a notice to the pole.

Duties of a finderTo take reasonable steps to find the owner.

2The owner arrives; she may hold the bag till her auto fare and trouble are made good.

Rights of a finderTo retain the goods until he receives compensation for the trouble and expense voluntarily incurred in preserving them and finding the owner.

3There was a reward on the poster, too—hers to claim before the bag changes hands.

RewardWhere the owner has offered a specific reward, to sue for the reward and retain the goods until he receives it.

Duties of a finder. Like a bailee, he must:

  1. take as much care of the goods as a person of ordinary prudence would of his own goods of the same kind;
  2. not use the goods for his own purposes;
  3. not mix them with his own goods;
  4. take reasonable steps to find the owner; and
  5. return the goods to the owner on demand.

Rights of a finder. Like a bailee, he has certain rights (ss. 168, 169):

  1. he may retain the goods until he receives compensation for the trouble and expense voluntarily incurred in preserving them and finding the owner (a particular lien), though he cannot sue the owner for this compensation;
  2. where the owner has offered a specific reward, he may sue for the reward and retain the goods until he receives it; and
  3. where the thing found is commonly the subject of sale, he may sell it if the owner cannot with reasonable diligence be found, or refuses to pay his lawful charges, where the goods are in danger of perishing or of losing the greater part of their value, or where his lawful charges amount to two-thirds of their value.

Where the 6 marks sit

#ComponentMarks
1Section 71: finder has a bailee's responsibility2
2Duties of a finder2
3Rights of a finder2
Total6
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