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Sara Mendonça, Associate of the Litigation Department at CCA ONTIER, in declarations to Jornal Económico, commented on the legal framework of illegitimate appropriation in cases of accession or lost property.
"The popular saying says that 'found is not stolen'. And, strictly speaking, it is not! However, our legislator has decided (and well) that the property of others should be criminally protected and thus it established, in Article 209 of the Criminal Code, the crime of illegitimate appropriation in cases of accession or lost property - which punishes with imprisonment up to one year or a fine up to 120 days, whoever illegitimately appropriates something from others that he has found, whether it has been lost or forgotten by its owner", says Sara Mendonça.
The Lawyer added that "in addition to criminal tutelage, lost property also benefits from civil protection under Article 1323 of our Civil Code, which provides that whoever finds lost property must return it to its owner, if they know to whom it belongs, or if they don’t know, communicate their findings to the authorities. After all, we are not in 'no man’s land'!".
Sara Mendonça, Associate of the Litigation Department at CCA ONTIER, in declarations to Jornal Económico, commented on the legal framework of illegitimate appropriation in cases of accession or lost property.
« The popular saying says that “found is not stolen”. And, strictly speaking, it is not! However, our legislator has decided (and well) that the property of others should be criminally protected and thus it established, in Article 209 of the Criminal Code, the crime of illegitimate appropriation in cases of accession or lost property - which punishes with imprisonment up to one year or a fine up to 120 days, whoever illegitimately appropriates something from others that he has found, whether it has been lost or forgotten by its owner » says Sara Mendonça.
The Lawyer added that « in addition to criminal tutelage, lost property also benefits from civil protection under Article 1323 of our Civil Code, which provides that whoever finds lost property must return it to its owner, if they know to whom it belongs, or if they don’t know, communicate their findings to the authorities. After all, we are not in “no man’s land”! ».
- Jornal Económico