until he has determined its distinguishing marks; if its claimant appears and gives an accurate description, he must hand it over to him, and should it perish within that year through no negligence on his part, he is not liable.

A spendthrift or a minor has his guardian make the public announcement on his behalf regarding what he has found.

Whoever abandons an animal in open country because it can no longer travel, or because its owner is unable to care for it, forfeits ownership and the one who takes it becomes its new owner.

If someone’s sandal—or something similar—is taken and he finds another in its place, that substitute is lost property: he must announce it (1), then take from it the value of his own item and give the remainder in charity.

Chapter on Foundlings (2)

If an infant of unknown lineage and status is abandoned or becomes lost, taking him in is a communal obligation.

He is deemed free and Muslim, and whatever is found with him, underneath him, freshly buried for him, attached to him—such as an animal—or lying close by, belongs to him. His finder may spend on his upkeep (3) out of that property without the ruler’s permission; otherwise the expense comes from the public treasury, and if that is impossible, the duty falls on whoever is aware of him.

Custody of the child belongs to the finder, while his estate goes to the public treasury, and if he is killed, the ruler is the one entitled to demand retaliation on his behalf. Anyone who acknowledges him as his child is legally linked to him—even a married woman or a non-Muslim—but he follows that person’s religion only when supported by proof (4).

No allegation that the foundling is a slave or a disbeliever is accepted.

If more than one person claims him, the claimant who produces evidence takes precedence; otherwise, he is assigned to the one to whom the experts in physiognomy (qāfa) judge him most closely related.