Chapter 187 : The laws of losing an object and finding it.

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§1

Whoever prevents a domestic animal from eating while working is punished as it is said:

If one sees a thing that a Jew had lost one is obliged to deal with it and restore it to its owner, as it is said: ¹ "You shall surely bring them again" Similarly, any money of one's neighbour that one can save so that it doesn't get lost, one is obliged to save as this is in the category of returning a lost object.

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1. Deut. 22:1

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§2

Although according to the law, (if it was) in a place where the majority there are non-Jews, even if the Jew put a mark on it, one is not obliged to return it, because one can assume that the owner has already given up on its return, in any case it is better and right to do more then legally required, and return it to the Jew who put his mark on it, and one can be forced to do this. If the finder is poor and the one who lost it is rich, one is not required to do more than the law requires. In a place where the laws of the land (requires) one to restore the lost item, one is obliged under all circumstances to return it.

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§3

Anyone who finds a lost object, whether it has a mark on it or whether it doesn't have a mark on it, if one found a place where it was resting such as a garment or an axe by the side of the fence, and even if there is doubt whether it was put there deliberately or get lost there, must not touch it.

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§4

One who is aged and respected and found a lost object, and it's a common object that even if it was his he would not pick it up and bring it home, because it would be undignified for him, is not obliged to deal with it. Nevertheless, he should act above the legal requirements, and deal with it even though it beneath his dignity.

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§5

One found an object and doesn't know who lost it, whether it has a mark on it or whether it doesn't have a mark on it, there are many different and conflicting laws about this, and one should ask a (Torah) sage what to do.