Chapter 29 - Personal Property and Bailments
C. Lost, Misplaced, and Abandoned Property
1. Finders of lost property have a legal responsibility, usually fixed by statute, to make
an effort to learn the identity of the owner and return the property.
2. Misplaced property must be placed with the proprietor of the place where the
property is found to be held for the owner.
3. When property is found and turned over to state officials, without any claim
registered by the finder, the property becomes the property of the state after a period
of time set by statute.
4. Abandoned bank deposits eventually become the property of the state.
5. Abandoned property, property discarded by the owner without the intent to reclaim
ownership of it, can be kept by anyone who finds it; and the finder obtains good title
to it, even as against the original owner.
D. Gifts of Personal Property
1. There are three requirements for a gift to be completed.
a. Donor must intend to make a gift.
b. The gift must be delivered to the donee.
c. The donee must accept the gift.
2. A gift inter vivos is a gift between the living.
3. Problems may arise when gifts are made to minors.
a. Effective January 1 2008, certain unearned income of children and students will
be taxed at the parent’s income tax rate.
b. The Uniform Transfer to Minors Act establishes a procedure for gifts to be made
to minors.
4. A gift in causa mortis is a gift made in contemplation of death, and it is ineffective if
the donor does not die as expected or if death is caused by circumstances other than
those feared.
5. The Uniform Anatomical Gift Act addresses gifts of human bodies, tissues, and
organs for medical education, research, and transplantation.
E. Stolen Personal Property
1. A thief acquires no title to goods that are stolen and, therefore, cannot convey a good
title.
2. In the case of theft, the true owner never relinquished title to the goods; and even an
innocent purchaser, who acquired the goods in good faith and for value, would be
obliged to return the goods to the owner.
II. Bailments (29-2)
A. The Elements of a Bailment
1. A bailment is a transfer of possession and control of personal property to another with
the intent that the same property will be returned later.
2. A person who transfers property in a bailment is a bailor, and the person to whom
property is transferred is the bailee.
3. A bailment may be created by expressly stated terms.
4. A bailment may be implied by circumstances and there may be an implied-in-fact
bailment, an implied-in-law bailment, and/or a constructive bailment.
B. Principles of Bailment
1. In a bailment, neither the bailor nor the bailee intends that title to the property should
pass.
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