Who owns stuff that falls onto someone's property?

[Ken Hirsch]

From: "Steve Schear" <schear at attbi.com>
> > > Expect the first EBay auctions of debris from the "Columbia" to be a
> > > constitutional issue soon. (Actually, the censors at fascist EBay have
> > > probably already flagged any transactions which mention "space shuttle"
> > > and "Columbia" to be illegal thoughtcrime sales.)
> >
> >Yep, ebay has already removed such auctions, e.g., item #2156954390,
> >`SPACE SHUTTLE COLUMBIA PIECE OF WRECKAGE PART'.
>
> Perhaps this is an opportunity for competitive, even offshore, auction
> sites to take the fore.

I don't think there are any difficult legal issues involved.  If you drop your
wallet on someone's property, it is still your wallet.  If you crash your car onto
somebody's front yard, it's still your car (for better or worse).  If a plane
crashes carrying U.S. mail, the Post Office gathers up whatever mail it can find and
tries to deliver it.  Would you have it any other way?

Even if ownership was in question, does anybody really think it's a good idea to
sell the pieces of evidence while the accident investigation is going on?