Deuteronomy 22:3

If, &c. Hebrew, "thou must not hide thyself," so as to pass it by, nor yet conceal it from the right owner. When a thing is certainly abandoned by him, it belongs to the person who seizes it first; but if it be only lost it, must surely be restored, if possible, (Grotius, Jur. ii. 10,) as nature forbids us to take advantage of another's misfortune. (Cicero) --- The Rabbins have corrupted this law, like so many others, by their evil interpretations. They pretend that a Jew must restore what he has found belonging to another true believer, if it have certain marks by which it may be known, but not if it belonged to a prevaricator or infidel. In the former supposition, they got the thing cried on a high stone near Jerusalem four times, and if the owner did not then claim his property, the finder might keep it. (Selden, Jur. vi. 4.) --- The inhabitants of Cumæ condemned the next neighbour to restore what had been lost; as Hesiod (op. 348,) very well remarks, that things would not easily be lost, if the neighbours were not ill-disposed.