Court case(1851) 21 LJ QB 75

Bridges, a commercial traveller, was in the public part of Hawkesworth's shop when he noticed a small parcel on the floor. It contained banknotes worth 65 pounds. He handed it to the shopkeeper so that the owner could be found and advertisements were placed, but after three years no owner appeared. Bridges then asked for the notes; Hawkesworth refused, claiming that as owner of the shop he was entitled to what was found in it. The county court judge found for the shopkeeper and Bridges appealed.

Patteson J, delivering the judgment of the court, applied Armory v. Delamirie: the finder of a lost article is entitled to it as against all persons except the real owner. The notes were never in the custody of the shopkeeper nor within the protection of his house; he did not know they were there and had no intention to control them. They were dropped in the public part of the shop, where any customer might find them. The shopkeeper therefore never possessed them, and the finder's possession, being first in time, gave him the better right. Judgment was entered for Bridges.