Q: When am I required to return a lost item, and when am I not required to do so?

A: The Shulchan Aruch writes that a person is obligated to return a lost item only if eight conditions are met. If any one condition is lacking, you are not obligated to return the item, although in many situations it is still meritorious to do so (C.M. 259:2). The item has to be found:

1.  in a place where there is an obligation to return it (e.g. where the majority of people are Jewish);

2. in a place where it seems lost (i.e. in an insecure place);

3.  in a manner that indicates it is lost (i.e. does not seem placed there intentionally);

4. when the item was not willfully abandoned;

5. when it is worth the minimal amount of a prutah;

6.  when there is some siman, identifying feature, in the item or place where it was found;

7.  when the person who found the item would bother tending to it had it been his own;

8.  when it belongs to a Jewish person to whom we are required to return it.