Kartik finds jewellery in the office corridor: his position, rights and duties

Provision. 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.

Duties of a finder (as a bailee): to take proper care of the goods, as a man of ordinary prudence would; not to appropriate them; and to restore them if the owner is found.

Rights of a finder (ss. 168, 169):

1. to retain the goods until he receives compensation for the trouble and expense voluntarily incurred in preserving them and finding the owner, though he cannot sue the owner for it;
2. where the owner has offered a specific reward, to sue for the reward and retain the goods until he receives it; and
3. to sell the goods 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.

Application. Kartik, who picks up jewellery lying in the corridor of his office and takes it into his custody, is a finder of goods under section 71 and stands in the position of a bailee. He must take reasonable care of the jewellery, not use it as his own, try to trace its owner (for instance through the office management) and return it on demand. Until the owner pays his reasonable expenses of keeping it and finding him, or any reward offered, he may retain it; he may sell it only in the circumstances listed above.

Conclusion. Kartik holds the jewellery as a bailee would: bound to keep it safely and return it to its owner, and entitled to his expenses and any reward before he does.