Translation:Shulchan Aruch/Choshen Mishpat/262

Paragraph 1- If one lost an item that is not worth a pertuah at the time it was lost and the time it was found, the finder is not required to announce it. Even if was worth a perutah at the time it was lost and it depreciated, or it was not worth a perutah when it was lost and it went up in value, the finder would not be required to announce. If it was worth a perutah when it was lost and when it was found, however, even if it depreciated in middle, the finder would be required to announce. Similarly, if even if depreciated after it was found, the finder would be required to announce.

Paragraph 2- Even if a lost item was worth a lot, but it had many partners so that each partner did not own a perutah-worth, the finder is not required to return it. When is this true? Where we know that it has partners. In a standard case, however, where the finder sees an item or currency that fell from three people and is only worth two perutos, he is required to return because they may be partners on it and one of them waived his share to the others, resulting in an item worth two perutos for two partners. If it was later discovered that one of the partners did not waive his share, the finder may keep it, even if he picked up the item before he learned that. If the item was worth less than two perutos he may keep it because we are not concerned that two partners waived to one partner.

Paragraph 3- One who finds an item is not required to announce unless it is an item that has an identifying mark on the item or one is able to provide an identifying mark on its location, its knot, its amount, its measurements or its weight. If it has no identifying mark even on its location, however, such as where it was not placed there intentionally but fell in that location, and it is something that one can say the owners noticed immediately when it fell, either because of its heaviness or value, and the owner would constantly be touching it and would notice when it fell, the finder can keep it because he the owner had given up right away when it fell given that it had no identifying mark and when the finder picked it up he had the right to keep it due to the owner giving up. If it was not such an item, he would need to return it, even if the owner gave up after the finder picked it up, because he picked up before the owner gave up.

Paragraph 4- If one found a lost item that fell from two or three people, he must return it, even if there was no identifying mark, because had he seen whom it fell from he would return it to him and if he did not see whom it fell from and there was an identifying mark, he would announce among the people. If there is no identifying mark, he would keep it until Eliyahu comes. This is only where the item was worth two perutos, as was discussed in Paragraph 2.

Paragraph 5- If one found an item whose owners had given up, such as where they said “woe is to the loss of money,” it would belong to the finder, even it had an identifying mark. Similarly, if one finds an item where it is clear that it was lost from its owner for a long time and the owners had given up, it would belong to the finder, even if there is an identifying mark of the item or its location. This that we said that where the owner says “woe to the loss of money” is only in a case of a lost item or something similar. If someone is owed a debt by a gentile where he presumably does not give up hope, however, even if he says “woe to the loss of money,” it would not be considered giving up because in every debt there is uncertainty whether he will be paid back or not and out of doubt he says this, but he does not actually give up.

Paragraph 6- Thus, if one found scattered money, cakes of figs, loaves of a baker, strings of fish that do not have an identifying mark in the knot or amount, pieces of meat that do not have an identifying mark, tongues of purple wool, sheerings of undyed wool or flax stalks, the finder may keep it because in all these cases the presumption is the owners noticed when they fell, and because there is no identifying mark they have given up hope.

Paragraph 7- If one found scattered fruit in a way that it would be placed, he may not touch them. If it was in a way that it would have fallen, they would belong to the finder.

Paragraph 8- If one finds loaves of a homeowner or sheerings of wool that are dyed or pieces of meat or fish with an identifying mark, or any other item with an identifying mark, he would be required to announce.

Paragraph 9- If one found bundles of stalks in the public domain, he may keep it because there is no identifying mark. If he found them in a private domain in a manner that they would have fallen, he may keep it. If he found it in the manner they would have been placed, he is required to announce, because although there is no identifying mark, its location is an identifying mark. If he found large bundles, however, regardless of whether he found it in a private domain or public domain, he would take and announce them because their location is an identifying mark. In a place where everyone puts their items, however, such as barrels at the riverbank, location is not an identifying mark because everyone unloads there. If one finds barrels of wine, oil or something similar, before the warehouses were open, he is required to announce because their seal would be an identifying mark. Once the warehouses are open, their seal is not an identifying mark and one is not required to announce. This is only where the all the barrels are equal and full. If the barrels were missing, however, the volume it contains would be an identifying mark.

Paragraph 10- If one found piles of fruits, fruits in a vessel or a vessel as is, he is required to announce.

Paragraph 11- If one finds scattered money, he may keep it. Even if some of the coins were on top of each other, they are scattered. If he found piled money, however, he is required to announce.

Paragraph 12- If one found three coins one top of another like a tower, which means the widest one is on bottom and the middle one is wider than the top, or they were placed like a ladder which means most of the middle on bottom and most of the top was on the middle, or if there was coin on one side, one on the other side and one on top of them so that if one were to stick a chip between them he can take them in one shot, the finder would be required to announce. If the coins were set like a bracelet, in a line or like the legs of a barrel, the law is uncertain and the finder should not take them.

Paragraph 13- When is true that one returns a coin? When it has the aforementioned identifying marks. If it does not have these marks, however, even if one says the coins were impressed with the seal of such and such king, or even if he says his name is written on it, we would not return it to him because a coin is meant to be spent and this person may have spent it and someone else dropped it. There are those who say a crack in the coin would be an identifying mark.

Paragraph 14- If one saw a coin drop from another into the sand or the dirt, he is permitted to take it because the owner certainly gave up hope. Even if he saw the owner take a sifter and sift through the sand or dirt to search for the item, that is of no concern.

Paragraph 15- If one found a cake with pottery inside, a loaf with money inside- there are those who say that an identifying mark created on its own is not an identifying mark- a piece of meat cut in a unique way or a bit fish or anything similar, because there is something unique the finder is required to announce given that the owners only made it this way for an identifying mark. With respect to a piece of meat that is not cut in a unique way, however, the finder can keep it, because even if one were to correctly say the piece was from the thigh or neck, that would not qualify as an identifying mark.

Paragraph 16- If one finds needles, spinning utensils or axes or anything similar and he found them one at a time, he can keep them. If he found two or more, he would be required to announce because amount is an identifying mark.

Paragraph 17- If one purchased fruit from another or sends them to another, and the recipient finds money piled inside, he would be required to announce because the knot is an identifying mark. If they were scattered, the finder may keep it. When is this true? Where one purchased from a merchant or from a homeowner who purchased from a merchant. The same is true where the merchant himself found them if they were in his possession long enough for him to combine those fruits with his fruits, even if he knew who they belonged to because the owners had already given up. If he purchased the fruits from a homeowner or his gentile servants or maidservants who threshed themselves, however, he would be required to return.

Paragraph 18- If one found a donkey with a saddle on it, the finder must even return the donkey to one who gives the identifying mark on the saddle.

Paragraph 19- If one found a vessel, with fruits in front of it, he may keep the fruits and would take and announce the vessel because we say the vessel belonged to one and the fruits belong to another, and the fruits have no identifying mark. If the circumstances indicate it belongs to one person, he is required to announce. How so? If the back of the vessel was facing the fruits, the finder can keep it. If the mouth of the vessel was in front of the fruits, we are concerned they fell from the vessel. If the vessel had a lip inside, even if its mouth was facing the fruits, the finder can keep it because had the fruits spilled from the vessel some would have remained inside because of the lip. If the some of the fruits were in the vessel and some were on the ground, he would be required to announce.

Paragraph 20- If one found a wallet with scattered money in front of it, he may keep it. If the circumstances indicate that the wallet and money belong to the same person and the money fell out of the wallet, he is required to announce.

Paragraph 21- If one finds a vessel which is made exactly like other vessels and it is a new vessel, the buyer may keep it. If it is the type of vessel that an owner would recognize, he is required to announce because if a Torah scholar would come and say that although he cannot give an identifying mark on this vessel he would be able to recognize it, the finder must show it to him. If the scholar recognizes it and says it is his, the finder would return it to him. When is this true? With an established scholar who does not deviate from the truth at all except for the sake of peace, downplaying his Torah knowledge, lying about where he slept or lying about a host for the host’s benefit and he is exact with his shirt so that he does not reverse in a way that shows the repulsive threads. This is only true in a place that scholars frequent, such as Beis Medrash. Otherwise, the finder would not be required to announce. Every Torah scholar has a presumption that he does not deviate other than the aforementioned categories until the finder can prove that the scholar is not careful.