Question 2 (b)
Position of a finder of lost goods compared with a bailee
6 marks
- Time to write
- About 12 minutes
- Topic
- Bailment and pledge
- Notes
- Crux notes
Question
Question 2 (b) · 6 marks“The position of a Finder of lost goods is like the position of 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
Read from the question
- CommentA statement to judge: take a stand on it in your first line, and come back to it at the end.
What the paper leaves open
Only a combined mark of 18 is printed for parts (a) to (c); each part is reckoned here at 6 marks (inferred).
Write it in this order
- Read; underline the asks; jot your points 1 min
- 1 Section 71: finder has a bailee's responsibility 2 marks 3 min
- 2 Duties of a finder 2 marks 3 min
- 3 Rights of a finder; conclusion 2 marks 3 min
- 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.
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. No contract exists between the finder and the owner; the law imposes on the finder the obligations of 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 (as a bailee): to take as much care of the goods as a person of ordinary prudence would of his own goods of the same kind; not to use them for his own purposes or mix them with his own goods; to take reasonable steps to find the owner; and to return them to the owner on demand.
Rights of a finder (ss. 168, 169):
- 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;
- where the owner has offered a specific reward, to sue for the reward and retain the goods until he receives it; and
- where the thing found is commonly the subject of sale, to 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.
Conclusion. The statement is correct: by section 71 a finder stands in the position of a bailee, with a bailee's duties of care and return and with matching rights of retention, reward and, in limited cases, sale.
Where the 6 marks sit
| # | Component | Marks |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Section 71: finder has a bailee's responsibility | 2 |
| 2 | Duties of a finder | 2 |
| 3 | Rights of a finder; conclusion | 2 |
| Total | 6 |
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