Lost Property System Study

With the development of our society and the rapid How of population and goods, people are more possible to lose their property, of which some is expensive. Therefore, it is necessary for countries to make scientific and high-efficiency rules to regulate the relation of lost property. In foreign countries, the rules of lost property usually entitle a picker the right to get reward, and the right to get the ownership of lost property when the conditions in law are provided. On the contrary, "the General Civil Rules of the People's Republic of China" and the draft of "the Civil Law of the People's Republic of China" which was published on Dec17,2002 both only entitle a picker the claim for his necessary expenses in relation to lost property. Such a kind of rule in our country isn't adapted to the relation of lost property on the background of market economy. The deficiency is that it confuses rules in law and code of ethics, makes too high an assessment on the level of people's morals, and thus neglects material incentives to the picker. What's more, it protects the rights of the owner of lost property excessively and neglects the interests of the picker, so it causes some conflicts among rules of lost property, the theory of preoccupation and advertisement offering a reward. In this article, in order to make up for the preceding deficiencies, the author agrees that our country's code of civil law in future should provide clearly that a picker has the right to get reward, and the right to get the ownership of lost property when the conditions in law arc provided. Besides, the status of the administrative authority of lost property, the picker and the owner of lost property should be made explicit in law, too. The whole article can be divided into the following four parts:The first part of this article analyses the concepts and requisites of such law firms as lost property, and looks into the distinct between these law firms and other similar law firms. Furthermore, it pointsout the main distinct of the rules of lost property between our country and foreign countries, and the deficiency of our country's current rules.The second part first narrates the development of the rules of lost property in our country's history, then discusses the reasonableness to entitle a picker the claim for reward in law through such means as economic and moral analysis on a picker's claim for reward.The third part expounds and proves that our country's civil law should set rules on a picker's right to obtain the ownership of lost property when the conditions in law are provided, because our current rules in law, which deny a picker's such right and make our country get the ownership of lost property with no owners, aren't beneficial for making best use of our society's property, and have causes some conflicts between such rules and the theory of preoccupation.The fourth part mainly discusses we should make public security organs the administrative authority of lost property. What's more, it researches into the status of the administrative authority of lost property, the picker and the owner of lost property, and the changes of real rights caused by lost property.