Reference no: EM133440830

Arabella is visiting her friend Ramona at her rented cottage one summer. While wandering over the cottage grounds, Arabella peers into the boathouse to examine an interesting canoe. While there, she notices a cardboard box wedged between two wooden planks in the side of the boathouse. The cardboard box turns out to contain $20,000 in cash. Assume that the boathouse actually belongs to a neighbouring cottage, which has been abandoned, and that the boathouse was built over the boundary line between the two properties. The money was lying underneath a canoe that had clearly not been used in years, on the side of the boathouse located on the neighbouring cottage's property. Also assume that Ramona was unaware that the boathouse belonged to the neighbouring cottage, and regularly used it to store her potted plants. When not in use, she usually kept it locked with a padlock, but it was open when Arabella walked in. Who has the best claim to the found money after the true owner?