55-209 - When owner of land may sell drift property; owner of property entitled to proceeds after payment of expenses, etc.
§ 55-209. When owner of land may sell drift property; owner of propertyentitled to proceeds after payment of expenses, etc.
If the owner of the property shall not, within three months from the time thesame was so deposited, remove or demand the property from the owner of theland, the owner of the land may sell the property or otherwise convert it tohis own use; but the owner of the land after deducting a just compensationfor any proper care, labor or expense bestowed, done or incurred by him aboutthe property from the amount received by him as the price thereof, or theactual value thereof at the time of such sale or other conversion, shall payto the owner of the property, if he shall elect to receive it, the residue ofthe price or of the actual value, as the case may be. The owner of theproperty, after he shall have demanded such residue, and proved by theaffidavit of some other person, or by a competent witness, his right thereto,or offered to prove such right, and the owner of the land shall have refusedor declined to inspect or hear the evidence thereof, but not before, mayrecover such residue, when the property has been sold, as money received forhis use, or, when the property has not been sold, as the price of goods soldby the owner of the property to the owner of the land, or he may have hisaction of trover to the extent of such residue.
(Code 1919, § 3571.)