How to Determine the Priority of Rights to Salvage


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One case involved a dispute among three groups of divers for the right to salvage silver from the cargo of a ship sunk and for the title to whatever silver is recovered. In resolving the problem, the court considered the common law of finds that treats property that is abandoned as returned to the state of nature and thus equivalent to property, such as fish or ocean plants, with no prior owner.


The first person to reduce such property to “possession,” either actual or constructive, becomes its owner. [R. Brown, The Law of Personal Property 15 (2d ed. 1955) as cited in Hener v. United States, 525 F. Supp. 350 (S.D.N.Y. 10/15/1981).] A mere “searcher” has no rights in abandoned property even if he succeeds in locating it; in particular, he has no right to exclude others from the attempt to recover it.