Divesting Abandonment: An Unnecessary Concept?

Abstract

Where an owner of a chattel voluntarily seeks to relinquish his rights in that property, there appear to be no clear rules on whether that owner can be said to have abandoned those goods. Although there are no very recent English authorities examining the question of abandonment of chattels, the issue has received the attention of the Commonwealth courts on several occasions. This paper assesses, in light of these cases, whether there is any need for English courts to recognize a general principle of abandonment at common law.