Another story from the "Dumbass" files, me.

[Brian37]

It's not a crime.  

Who are the "they" who require you to surrender found money?  Any time there's a nickel on the ground do you have to surrender it to the police?  Or is there a dollar amount attached to this "requirement"?

If you find a pile of money you are fully aware that you are not the owner. Do I need to go from there?

Back when I was 7 years old, my dad and I were walking from our VW van, through the marina to the docks where his boat was. I saw in front of me off slightly in the distance, what I thought was just a piece of paper, but when I got closer too it I saw that it was a $10 dollar bill. I picked up and said, "Look what I found dad." My dad said, "Let me hold that for you." I never saw it again.  

But there is no reasonable way one could track down the person who dropped it because it wasn't like it was in a wallet. But you are right, lets say it wasn't just one lost bill with no way to trace the owner. If it were say, several hundreds of dollars in a purse with no ID or in a money clip, then even without the ID it makes sense that one should take it to the police. 

But money hanging partially out of an ATM is different. There is a much easier path to returning it to the rightful owner, through reporting it to the bank.

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And it’s not just money. If you find a piece of property - a hat, for example - you are required to make a reasonable effort to find the owner.

Suppose you’re at a public place and you leave your mobile phone on a park bench while you go to use the lavvy (stupid thing to do, but that’s not the point). I come along and say, ‘Cool, an abandoned phone!’ and walk off with it. That’s theft, because there’s no reasonable way to assume that you simply didn’t want your phone anymore.

The converse of that is when property is CLEARLY abandoned, then it’s a case of help yourself. Back it NI, I once left a pile of scrap at the kerb on collection day. It was junk (split pieces, water damage, etc). I happened to look out the window later and saw a women loading the wood into the boot of her car. That’s not theft.

Boru

^^^^^^^^ Agreed. 

Money hanging partially out of an ATM cannot be considered abandon as in, "I don't want this money" like putting trash on the curb.

Even in police investigations, if you are a suspect in a crime, and you throw evidence in the trash, it is perfectly legal for the police to go through your trash without a warrant because it is considered abandon. What the police cannot do, without probable cause is illegally enter your house car, private property and look for the same thing without probable cause or a warrant.