Imagine if a celestial body somehow falls into your house, something like a meteorite or any other space rock. Will you be able to possess it as your property? Or would you have to give it up to the researchers? A piece of news from Sweden is making headlines for a similar situation.
Back in 2020, on November 7, an iron meteorite fell on a private property in Uppland, Sweden. By December, two geologists discovered its existence and it was then transferred to the Swedish Museum of Natural History, in the country’s capital Stockholm. They found the space rock days after it hit Earth, in a moss, weighing around 13.6 kg.
As per reports, the owner of the private property, where the iron rock was found, is Johan Benzelstierna von Engestrïm. The reports state further that he appealed a December 2022 ruling, by the Uppsala district court. According to that ruling, the rock’s finders, Andreas Forsberg and Anders Zetterqvist, had a right to it, as it was not a part of that private property, while also being a moveable property with no owner.
On Thursday, the court stated, “The rock is made up of substances that are already present on the earth’s surface.” According to Judge Robert Green, celestial stones like meteorites or space rocks should be taken as a “part of immovable property just like other stones, even though it may intuitively feel like it is something foreign to the Earth”.
Going by more information, the “allemansraetten” is a Swedish law which gives its citizens a right to roam their country freely, on the condition that they should respect nature and animals. However, it “does not give anyone the right to take a meteorite from someone else’s land,” the court stated further.
Moreover, the finders claimed that they had an agreement which allowed them to take the space rock. However, the appeals court maintained that no evidence was found to back these claims.
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