QUALIFYING THE APPROPRIATION OF FOUND PROPERTY BELONGING TO ANOTHER

Author(s): Titkova O.I.

Rubric: Specific issues of law and law enforcement

DOI: 10.21777/2587-9472-2026-3-46-50

Release: 2026-3 (51)

Pages: 46-50

Keywords: crimes against property, misappropriation, theft, appropriation of found property, find, property belonging to another, legal liability

Annotation: The article discusses certain issues of legal assessment of a person’s appropriation of found property belonging to another. The main approaches to distinguishing between theft and finding are analyzed. The article critically examines the arguments that taking possession of found property belonging to another cannot be considered theft due to the owner’s loss of actual connection with the item and, consequently, the inability to exercise the powers of an owner; the absence of selfish intent; the inability to assess the appropriation of found property belonging to another as seizure in the criminal law sense; and so on. It analyzes the provisions of civil legislation regulating the procedure for dealing with a find (Article 227 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation) and the position of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation (Resolution No. 2-P of January 12, 2023) on the legal assessment of the appropriation of found property belonging to another. The article examines certain criteria proposed by crimi- nal law scholarship and law enforcement practice for distinguishing theft from finding: the owner’s or possessor’s observation of the process of losing property; the owner’s or possessor’s knowledge of the location of the forgotten item; the presence of individual characteristics in the property that allow for identification of the owner, etc. In the text of the article, the Russian Federation is abbreviated as RF.

Bibliography: Titkova O.I. QUALIFYING THE APPROPRIATION OF FOUND PROPERTY BELONGING TO ANOTHER // Journal of Legal Sciences. – 2026. – № 3 (51). – С. 46-50. doi: 10.21777/2587-9472-2026-3-46-50