Finders Keepers
It makes an old property law teacher’s heart beat faster to read the Globe and Mail story about Mr. Thomas and the mysterious $18,000 that arrived in his mailbox by mistake one day.
So Mr. Thomas took the booty to the police to have them hold it and look for the rightful owner.
(“Marge, have you seen that 18 grand we had on the kitchen table? I seem to have misplaced it.” “Sorry honey, have you looked in the garage? You were out there fixing the shelves yesterday. Maybe it wound up in that jar of nails you insist on keeping.” Yeah: right. So the RCMP were brought in, tracked their man, who said, in effect: “Money? Money? What money? I don’t know square root of whatever about any money.”)
In time, Mr. Thomas decided that he should have possession of it, and so he sued. The government objected saying that because of postal regs etc. it was rightfully theirs to possess. I love the Globe reporter’s closing comment about that: “Judge Trussler scoffed at [this] line of reasoning.” Don’t see “soff” often. So Mr. Thomas is now the rightful possessor.
The judgment in Thomas v. Canada (Attorney General), 2006 ABQB 730 [pdf] is great for first year law, revisiting an old warhorse, Bird v. Fort Frances
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