If a person finds a diamond ring and don't know who it belongs to why is it not larceny even though the person intended to use it for his own purposes when he found it?

Answer 1

It is theft. Quite simply that is the law, otherwise people could rightfully argue that they found any piece of property. In this case you found an object that you knowingly took as your own. Your failure is that you failed to report the item as lost and made no attempt to return the item to its legal owner. If this was not the case legally, then if you parked your car in a street. I could take it and say I found your car and decided to keep it. 'Finders keepers' is not the rule of law! You find something, you have to legally report it and allow it to be claimed. If after a period of time, no-ones claims that item it may be returned to you to become your legal property. Added: The law in most every jurisdiction I am aware of REQUIRES you to turn over found property to your local law enforcement agency. They will issue you a receipt to signify that it is held in their safekeeping. Then, as the first response states, after the expiration of a certain time limit, if no one comes forewrd to claim it, you can legally claim it as your own.

Answer 2

Larceny typically requires the intent to permanently deprive the owner of their property. If the person who found the diamond ring genuinely doesn't know who it belongs to and intends to try and find the rightful owner, that would not meet the criteria for larceny. However, if they knowingly keep the ring without attempting to find the owner, it could potentially be considered theft.