Aleksandra Pavicevic

LEGAL CONSEQUENCES OF FINDING A LOST OBJECT IN SERBIAN LAW DE LEGE LATA AND DE LEGE FERENDA

Summary

The issue of this work is legal concequences of finding lost object in the meaning of - rights and duties of the finder and of the state. The lost thing is the movable object that has been accidentally and involuntarily lost from possession of its former holder not knowing where the object is. The authorʹs aim is to analise, compare and evaluate the solutions of this problem contained in former Serbian law, pre – war Yugoslav regulations; positive law – The Instruction on dealing with found objects from 1949; and finally future Serbian law – contained in Draft Code on Ownership and other Property Rights from 2007. Considering these regulations contain essentially different concequences of finding the lost object in the matter of: report of finding, finderʹs award, and finally - the possibility of acquiring property, author evaluates all of them and underlines certain shortcomings. Also, there are presented advantages of the Draft Code, and author advocates for addition of few missing elements in this newly proposed model, such as: legal definition of lost thing, finderʹs right of retention and consistent regulation of the finding of forgotten objects. The conclusion is that Draft Code contains much better solution than positive Serbian law. It is more complete, more consistent, more practical model that reconciles the conflicting interests of all parties involved in this legal relationship: the owner of lost object, the holder, the finder and the state. If suggested proposals were included, this model would be the most appropriate one.

Key words: lost object, finding of lost object, rights and duties of finder and state, returning lost object to its holder, acquiring property by finding the lost object.