XIII. TO the same original may in part be referred the revenue of treasure-trove (derived from the French word, _trover_, to find) called in Latin _thesaurus inventus_, which is where any money or coin, gold, silver, plate, or bullion, is found hidden _in_ the earth, or other private place, the owner thereof being unknown; in which case the treasure belongs to the king: but if he that hid it be known, or afterwards found out, the owner and not the king is entitled to it[u]. Also if it be found in the sea, or _upon_ the earth, it doth not belong to the king, but the finder, if no owner appears[w]. So that it seems it is the _hiding_, not the _abandoning_ of it, that gives the king a property: Bracton[x] defining it, in the words of the civilians, to be "_vetus depositio pecuniae_." This difference clearly arises from the different intentions, which the law implies in the owner. A man, that hides his treasure in a secret place, evidently does not mean to relinquish his property; but reserves a right of claiming it again, when he sees occasion; and, if he dies and the secret also dies with him, the law gives it the king, in part of his royal revenue. But a man that scatters his treasure into the sea, or upon the public surface of the earth, is construed to have absolutely abandoned his property, and returned it into the common stock, without any intention of reclaiming it; and therefore it belongs, as in a state of nature, to the first occupant, or finder; unless the owner appear and assert his right, which then proves that the loss was by accident, and not with an intent to renounce his property. [Footnote u: 3 Inst. 132. Dalt. Sheriffs. c. 16.] [Footnote w: Britt. c. 17. Finch. L. 177.] [Footnote x: _l._ 3. _c._ 3. Sec. 4.]