Bruce Green was quoted in a New York Times article about what the law says you should do if you find money on the ground.
As I got off a train in Manhattan on Wednesday, I paid little attention to a flutter out of the corner of my eye on the subway. Then another passenger told me that I had dropped some money.
“That isn’t mine,” I told her as I glanced at what turned out to be $90 on the ground.
I realized the flutter had been the money falling out of the coat of a man standing near me who had just stepped off the train.
The doors were about to close, and no one was acting, so I grabbed the cash and left the train. But I was too late. The man had disappeared into the crowd. I waited a few minutes to see if he would return, but he was long gone. I tried to find a transit employee or police officer, but none were in sight.
I was running late, so I left. But now what? What are you supposed to do with money that isn’t yours?
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What the law saysThe law is more prescriptive, even if most have no clue what it says, according to Bruce Green, a professor and director of the Louis Stein Center for Law and Ethics at Fordham Law School.
“The question is, ‘Does the law accord with people’s ordinary moral and societal intuitions?’” said Mr. Green, who is also the chairman of the New York City Bar Association’s Professional Ethics Committee.
“Because nobody’s going to know to look up the law unless somebody gets a call from a reporter,” he added.
Mr. Green was gracious enough to do just that and here’s what he found: Under section 252 of New York personal property law, any person who finds an item worth $20 or more has 10 days to return it to the owner or report it to the authorities. Fail to do so, and you face a maximum fine of $100 and up to six months in prison. (Yikes!)
“I don’t think anyone’s going to prosecute you,” Mr. Green assured me. He also offered a recommendation in case I wanted to keep the cash: “Don’t write a piece about it because that’s pretty inculpatory.” Noted.