[If] two [persons] are holding a cloak, [and] one says: “I found it,” and the other says: “I found it,” [or] one says: “It is all mine,” and the other says: “It is all mine” —- this one must swear that he owns no less of it than half, and that one must swear that he owns no less of it than half, and they divide [it].  [If] one says: “It is all mine,” and the other says: “Half of it is mine” —- he who says: “It is all mine,” must swear that he owns no less of it than three quarters, and he who says: “Half of it is mine,” must swear that he owns no less of it than one quarter, [and] this one takes three quarters, and that one takes one quarter.

[If] two were riding an animal, or [if] one was riding and the other was leading, [and] one says: “It is all mine,” and the other says, “It is all mine” —- this one must swear that he owns no less of it than half, and that one must swear that he owns not less of it than half, and they divide [it].  Whenever they admit or they have witnesses, they divide without an oath.

[If] one, [while] riding an animal, saw an acquirable object, and said to another: “Give it to me” —- [if the latter] took it and said: “I have acquired it [for myself],” he has [indeed] acquired it. If, after he gave it to him, he said: “I acquired it first,” [it is as though] he said nothing.

[If] one saw an acquirable object and fell upon it, and another came and seized it, the one who seized it acquired it.  [If] one saw people running after an acquirable object —- after a lame deer [or] after young birds that cannot [yet] fly —- and he said: “My field has acquired [it] for me,” it has [indeed] acquired [it] for him.  [If] the deer was running normally or if the young birds were flying, and he said: “My field has acquired [it] for me,” [it is as though] he said nothing.

The finding of one’s minor son or daughter, the finding of one’s gentile slave —- male or female —- [and] the finding of one’s wife belong to him.  The finding of one’s son or daughter who is of age, the finding of one’s Jewish bondman or bond-woman, the finding of one’s wife whom he divorced —- although he has not [yet] paid her kesubah —- belong to them.

[If] one finds loan contracts [and] there is a lien on property in them, he should not return [them], since the court would ex-act payment with them. [If] there is no lien on property in them, he should return [them], since the court would not exact payment with them. [These are] the words of R’ Meir. The Sages, however, say: In either case he should not return [them], since the court would exact payment with them.

[If] one finds documents of divorce, [deeds of] emancipation of slaves, testaments, gifts, or receipts, he should not return them, for I say that [after] they were written, he reconsidered, [deciding] not to give them.

[If] one finds evaluation documents, support documents, chalitzah certificates, refusals, selection certificates, or any act of court, he should return [them].  [If] one finds [any document] in a leather bag or in a case, a roll of documents, or a bun-dle of documents, he should return [them]. Now, how many [constitute] a bundle of documents? Three fastened one to the other.  Rabban Shimon ben Gamliel says: [If they are of] one who borrows from three, he must return [them] to the debtor; [if of] three who borrow from one, he should return [them] to the creditor.  [If] one found a document among his documents, and he does not know who gave it to him, it must remain until Elijah comes.  If there are receipts among them, he should do what is [written] in the receipts.

Some finds belong to him, and some he must announce. These finds belong to him: [If] he found scattered produce, scat-tered money, small sheaves in a public domain, round cakes of pressed figs, loaves of a baker’s bread, strings of fish, pieces of meat, fleeces of wool brought from their country, bundles of flax, or tongues of purple wool —- these belong to him. [These are] the words of R’ Meir. R’ Yehudah says: Anything containing something unusual must be announced. How? He found a round cake, and a potsherd was inside it; [or] a loaf, and money was inside it.  R’ Shimon ben Elazar says: All new utensils need not be announced.

These must be announced: [If] he found produce in a vessel, or a vessel just as it is, money in a purse, or a purse just as it is, piles of produce, piles of money, three coins one upon the other, small sheaves in a private domain, loaves of homemade bread, fleeces of wool taken from the craftsman’s workshop, jugs of wine, or jugs of oil —- these must be announced.

[If] behind a fence or behind a wall he found young birds with their wings tied —- or in the paths of the fields —- he should not touch them.  [If] he found a utensil in a heap of garbage, [and] it is covered, he should not touch it; if it is uncov-ered, he must take [it] and announce [it].  [If] he found [objects] in a heap [of stones] or in an old wall, they belong to him. [If] he found [objects] in a new wall —- from the middle toward the outside, they belong to him; from the middle to-ward the inside, they belong to the owner of the house. If he rented it to others —- even within the house, they belong to him.