On January 8, Ms. Li accidentally lost a diamond ring, which made her anxious and quickly called the police. The police are also very powerful, and by checking the surveillance video, they soon found that it was a 3-year-old boy Xiao Ming who picked up the ring.
So, the police found Xiao Ming's parents, hoping that they could return the ring. However, Xiao Ming's parents said that after Xiao Ming brought the ring home, he played with it as a toy in his mouth. They felt that this action was too dangerous, and they were afraid that Xiao Ming would accidentally swallow it, so they "disposed of" the ring.
At this moment, Ms. Li is not happy. She felt that Xiao Ming's parents had not fulfilled their responsibility for the custody of the found items, and demanded that they pay compensation of 30,000 yuan and mental damages. As for Xiao Ming's parents, they felt that they were wronged, because they didn't know the true value of the ring, and they didn't deliberately lose it.
This matter has been stalemate for a while. Later, under the mediation of the police, Xiao Ming's parents expressed their willingness to bear the liability for compensation within 20,000 yuan, and Ms. Li also agreed to this plan. Oops, now the matter has finally been solved!
Xiao Ming's parents agreed to compensate, but netizens were not happy.
Many people think that parents should not lose this money. They think that how can Ms. Li still have others pay for the diamond ring she lost? This viewpoint has aroused a lot of resonance on the Internet! Some people have also raised the question: If parents do not notice that their children have picked up and lost something, then should parents still be responsible? This question is also worth considering.
However, some netizens suspect that the parents may have hidden the diamond ring, so they are willing to lose money and settle. But this view seems untenable, because considering that the recycling price of diamond rings is much lower than the price at the time of sale, if parents really hide diamond rings, why are they willing to lose money?
Most voices on the Internet still feel that parents are wronged by losing money and should not accept mediation. They feel that it is unreasonable to pay compensation for lost property. But in fact, this kind of incident is not uncommon!
Let's take a similar case announced by the Intermediate People's Court of Chongzuo City, Guangxi Province last year: a man, Wei, picked up a 10,000-yuan gold bracelet on the road, and thought that "something worthless was discarded." As a result, the owner provided evidence such as the invoice of the gold chain, and the surveillance also photographed Wei picking up the chain. In the end, the court ruled that Wei should bear 80% of the responsibility and compensate the owner 8,376 yuan. You see, this is a living example!
Some lawyers, in explaining such cases, emphasized that the finder has a legal obligation to "take proper care of the lost property". In fact, our country's "Civil Code" and the earlier "General Principles of the Civil Law" in the 1980s and other relevant provisions are all in the hope of guiding citizens to do good, reasonably share the cost of doing good, and curb greed through legal provisions.
As we all know, this law is very serious and meticulous in dealing with lost property.
First of all, let's be clear, if we find a lost property, it will be returned to its original owner, which is the basic principle of the law. Just like the situation when a 3-year-old child picked up a diamond ring, although the child is young and ignorant, as a parent, he can't just say "lost" and it's over. After all, the value of a diamond ring is not low, and the mood of the owner is understandable.
Then, the law also takes into account the rights and interests of the finder. That is to say, if you are kind enough to help someone take care of the lost property, and you have paid time, energy, and even money, then the owner will have to compensate you a little when he gets the lost property back. This is required by law, and it is called "payment of necessary expenses". In this way, when faced with lost property, people will be more willing to lend a hand and help find the owner.
However, there are always some people who will use their brains to take advantage of a small advantage. At this time, the law will not be polite. It clearly stipulates that the finder or the authorities must take good care of the lost property before it is handed over to the relevant authorities, or until the lost property is claimed. If the lost property is damaged or lost due to intentional or gross negligence, then civil liability must be borne. That's where the majesty of the law lies!
Let's go back to this diamond ring case. Someone said, "If a 3-year-old child picks up and loses a diamond ring, do parents still have to be responsible?" According to the law, legal liability will only be pursued if the lost property is damaged due to "intentional or gross negligence". Therefore, if the child really accidentally loses the diamond ring, the parent does not have to bear legal responsibility. However, if parents deliberately or carelessly cause the diamond ring to be damaged or lost after learning that their child has picked up the diamond ring, then it has to be another matter.
This matter has caused a lot of uproar on the Internet, and netizens have their own opinions, and judicial practice also has its tendencies.
Some netizens said that the child's parents may think that what they picked up was just a worthless fake, so they threw it away. If you encounter such a situation, you may not think that the diamond ring is real, let alone realize that it needs to be kept properly. Therefore, they think that this is not "intentional or gross negligence", and it is really unfair for parents to bear 20,000 yuan in compensation for this.
However, in judicial practice, judges are more inclined to think that once you pick up someone else's lost property, then you have a legal relationship with the owner. At this point, you have clear legal obligations such as "return", "delivery" and "keeping". Regardless of the reason for throwing away the diamond ring, it is a "deliberate" breach of these obligations and you need to bear the corresponding liability for compensation!
In fact, the provisions of the law are based on the principle of "the curtain of ignorance". In other words, you may be the parent of the child who has suffered an unjustified disaster, or you may be the owner of the lost jewelry. And the principle of the law is to maintain the formal fairness of all people, without taking sides.
However, the grievances of netizens are not completely unreasonable. Even if it is a gross negligence for the parents to throw the diamond ring, Ms. Li herself is also very at fault for the loss of the item. Furthermore, the Civil Code does not provide in detail how to be held liable for "damage or loss of lost property due to intentional or gross negligence". Therefore, in practice, it is quite controversial. If the liability of the parents in this case had been lighter, it might have been more acceptable to others.