In PSHE, we have been considering the phrase 'Finders keepers, losers weepers'. The idea that a person who finds something that is lost is entitled to keep it is not a new one. It has appeared in many laws throughout the centuries. It was thought to first appear back in ancient Rome, where a law stated that if a person found something, it was legally theirs unless the rightful owner came to claim it back.

In Upper School, we have been discussing the ethics of keeping money that has been found- how much is acceptable to keep if you find it? A pound? Five pounds? Ten pounds? Twenty pounds? We had a range of suggestions and some interesting explanations!

We then considered the law and were interested to find the following out. If a person finds money and they know who it belongs to, but they don’t give it back, it is seen as theft in law. If the money isn’t on someone’s property and there is no way of knowing who the money might belong to (and there are no obvious clues to whose it is), then you should still hand it into the police or get a safe adult to help you. If a person finds something (such as a wallet) and does not hand it into the police or a lost property office near to the place it was found, (so the person who lost it can know it has been found) this is also theft. If the object or the money is not claimed within a period of time, usually 3 months, then the finder becomes the owner!