Unowned property includes tangible, physical things that are capable of being reduced to being property owned by a person but are not owned by anyone. (Latin for "ownerless goods") is a legal concept associated with the unowned property, which exists in various jurisdictions, with a consequently varying application, but with origins mostly in English law.
Nearly every piece of land on the Earth is a property and has a maintainer (owner). The class of objects, "unowned things", are objects which are not yet property; either because it has been agreed by sovereign nations that no one can own them, or because no person, or other entity, has made a claim of ownership. The most common unowned things are asteroids. The UN's Outer Space Treaty does not address the issue of private ownership of natural objects in space. All asteroids remain unowned things until some person or entity makes a claim of property right to one of them.
In an experimental legal case of first impression, a lawsuit for a declaratory judgment was filed in a United States Federal Court to determine the lawful owner of Asteroid 433 Eros. 433 Eros was claimed as property by Gregory W. Nemitz of Orbital Development. According to the homestead principle, Nemitz argued that he had the right to claim ownership of any celestial body that he made use of; he claimed he had designated Eros a spacecraft parking facility and wished to charge NASA a parking and storage fee of twenty cents per year for its NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft that is permanently stored there. Nemitz's case was dismissed due to lack of standing and an appeal denied.
Ferae naturae
Ferae naturae (lit. "wild animals of nature") is a Latin legal term referring to wild animals, in contrast to domitae naturae (lit. "tamed [animals] of nature").
In property law, ferae naturae residing on unowned real property are not predisposed to one party or another in regards to possession.
See: Pierson v. Post (3 Cai. R. 175, 2 Am. Dec. 264) (Supreme Court of New York 1805)
In the event that the animals are on a private entity's estate, the owner of the estate, if pursuing or attempting to apprehend ferae naturae is likely to be deemed, by the court, the rightful possessor to the title of the animal.
See: Keeble v Hickeringill, 11 East 574, 103 Eng. Rep. 1127 OR 3 Salk. 9 (as Keeble v Hickeringhall) Queen's Bench, 1707
Canada
Bona vacantia is applied according to the laws of the relevant province, and the roots of the laws may be traced to Roman law.
New Zealand
Similarly to England, unclaimed money will mostly escheat to the Crown who may then make further distribution. Unclaimed property other than money might also be claimed on behalf of the Crown but (as with the UK jurisdictions) this is not inevitable.
United Kingdom
England and Wales
Bona vacantia is partly a common law doctrine and partly found in statute. It deals with:
Assets of dissolved companies that have failed to be distributed or have been disclaimed by the official receiver. Assets of dissolved unincorporated associations that have failed to be distributed Assets of the estates of deceased persons that have failed to be distributed due to intestacy and a lack of known persons entitled to inherit Some failed trust property
For most of England and Wales, the Bona Vacantia Division of the Government Legal Department is responsible for dealing with bona vacantia assets on behalf of the Crown. If no heirs to an estate can be found then the assets are realised and the balance is transferred to HM Treasury. The division deals only with solvent estates whose net value exceeds £500. The assets of dissolved companies automatically pass to the Crown by law. They are realised by the division and the revenue passed to the Exchequer, although the division has a power to disclaim onerous assets. Liabilities associated with assets do not automatically follow those assets into bona vacantia. Care should be taken to distinguish between assets remaining when dissolution commences (which might be distributed to shareholders or others in that process) and those that for various valid reasons remain undistributed at the end of dissolution. Some assets might only come to notice after dissolution has taken place.