While walking in a community park, Chetna finds a lost book. She brings it back to her house and starts to read it. Later she discovers that the owner has been enquiring about his lost book and making all efforts to rega

Under Section 168 and 169 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 the position of a finder of lost goods is exactly that of a bailee. The rights of a finder are that he can sue the owner for any reward that might have been offered, and may retain the goods until he receives the reward. But where the owner has offered no reward, the finder has only a particular lien and can detain the goods until he receives compensation for the troubles and expenses incurred in preserving the property for finding out the true owner. But he cannot file a suit for the recovery of the compensation. Thus, as against the true owner, the finder of goods in a public or quasi-public place is only a bailee, he keeps the article in trust for the real owner. As against every-one else, the property in the goods vests in the finder on his taking possession of it. The finder has a right to sell the property the owner cannot with reasonable diligence be (a) where found, or (b) when found, he refuses to pay the lawful charges of the finder and- if the thing is in danger of perishing or losing greater part of its value, or when the lawful charges of the finder for the preservation of goods and the finding out of the owner amounts to two-thirds of the value of the thing. So, Chetna must return the book to the owner.