Deuteronomy 22:1-3

Of Restoring Lost Property. No Israelite shall see a brother's ox or sheep go astray without returning it, or caring for it till it is claimed, and so with an ass or garment or anything lost; D's expansion of a law by E, Exodus 23:4 f., which is (remarkably) of an enemy'sproperty. As is evident from the parallel phrase, him that hateth thee, in E's next law, this is not a foreign, but a private, enemy. Therefore D's substitution of the term brotherrenders his law not narrower (so Marti and others), but wider, than E's. P, Leviticus 6:1-7, gives details for the treatment of a man who has not restored lost property found by him.

Ḫammurabi has four laws, §§ 9 12, on cases in which the finder has sold the lost property of another. For the Arabs see Doughty Ar. Des.i. 345 and Musil, Ethn. Ber.282 ff.: If a man find an animal, this must be confirmed by two witnesses, that the owner may not charge him with theft and exact fourfold compensation. Among the Ṣekhûr the animal remains with the finder till the owner appears, when it is returned; but after 3 years it belongs to the finder. Some forms of denouncing finders, who do not restore, are given.