In Poland the civil code states
>Art. 182. Swarm of bees.
§ 1. A swarm of bees becomes ownerless if the owner does not find it within three days of the day the bees
swarm from the hive. When pursuing the swarm, the owner may enter another person’s land but he should
remedy any resulting damage.
§ 2. If the swarm of bees comes to rest in another person’s unoccupied beehive, the owner may demand that it be
returned upon reimbursement of costs.
§ 3. If the swarm of bees comes to rest in another person’s occupied beehive, it becomes the property of the
person who owns the swarm which is in the beehive. The former owner is not entitled in this case to a claim based
on unjust enrichment.
I think it’s directly copied over from over countries in Europe so your laws may be identical
8 comments
Sounds pretty similar, yes.
>BGB Section 961
>Loss of ownership of bee swarms
>Where a swarm of bees takes flight, it becomes ownerless if the owner fails to pursue it without undue delay or if the owner gives up the pursuit.
>Section 962
>Right of pursuit of the owner
>The owner of the swarm of bees may, in pursuit, enter on plots of land belonging to others. If the swarm has entered an unoccupied beehive belonging to another, the owner of the swarm, for the purpose of capturing it, may open the hive and remove or break out the combs. The owner is to provide compensation for the damage caused.
>Section 963
>Merging of bee swarms
>If bee swarms of more than one owner that have moved out merge, the owners who have pursued their swarms become co-owners of the total swarm captured; the shares are determined according to the number of swarms pursued.
>Section 964
>Intermixture of bee swarms
>If a bee swarm has moved into an occupied beehive belonging to another, the ownership and the other rights in the bees that were occupying the beehive extend to the swarm that has moved in. The ownership and the other rights in the swarm that has moved in are extinguished.
I may be off-topic, but I had no idea such things are regulated by Civil Code. TIL.
And I should probably ask somewhere else, I do not understand why the owner of the bees has the right to got them back if they’d move to an unoccupied beehive, but no right (or compensation) if they’d move to an occupied one. Why the difference?
Yes, it’s similiar in Czech civil code
>Limitations of the ownership rights
§ 1014
(1) If a foreign movable object is found on the private property, the owner of the property shall without undue delay hand it over to its owner or to the person who had it in his possession; otherwise he shall allow him to enter his land and to search for and remove the object. Similarly, the owner may pursuit an animal or swarm of bees kept on another’s land; but if a swarm of bees flies into a hive belonging to another, the owner of the hive acquires ownershi rights to the swarm without being liable to compensation.
> (2) If a thing, animal, swarm of bees or the exercise of a right under subsection (1) causes damage to land, the owner of the land shall be entitled to compensation.
translated by deepL
These are from 1734, Swedes might have the same laws still in force. Translated by chatgpt.
> Chapter 21
>
> Concerning Bees
>
> Section 1
>
> If bees fly into another person’s forest, and the owner follows them to their tree and hole, marks that tree, and notifies the villagers of the matter, then no one shall have the authority to deny them to him. If a swarm of bees settles in a fruit tree or a protected tree, it must be driven into hives, and the tree shall not be cut or damaged, under the penalty of the fine mentioned in Chapter 13. If it is any other tree, let it be felled, and the owner may freely take his bees.
>
> Section 2
>
> If someone finds bees on his own land or where he has a share, they shall belong to the finder. If a tenant finds them, he shall receive one-third, and the landowner two-thirds. Anyone finding them in another person’s enclosure shall not receive any share. If found outside the enclosure, in another person’s forest or land, the finder shall receive one-third, and the landowner two-thirds. If two individuals claim to have found the same bees, the reward shall go to the one who reported it first. The Criminal Code shall determine the penalties for one who finds bees on another’s property but does not report it and, instead, takes them away or lures another person’s bees with food and bait.
It’s just common necessity in the times when most of the people worked in agriculture and livestock. Animals in general escaped a lot and laws needed to be put in place to tell owners of the animals to go and get their animals back but to pay the owner of the land back if there are some damages made on the property.
In Italy there’s Art.924 of the Civil Code “Swarm of bees”
>The owner of swarms of bees has the right to chase them on someone else’s land, but owes indemnity for the damage caused to the land; if he has not chased them within two days or has ceased during two days to chase them, the other landowner might take them and hold them.
Article 612 of the Civil Code (written in 1889):
1. The owner of a swarm of bees shall have the right to chase it on someone else’s field, compensating the owner thereof for any incurred damage. Were it enclosed, he shall need the consent of the owner to enter it.
2. When the owner of the swarm has not chased, or has ceased to chase the swarm for two consecutive days, shall the owner of the field be able to employ it or retain it.
Swiss Civil Code.
Art. 700 (From a section on Right of Access and Retrieval of Driftage in the part about Substance and Limitations of Land Ownership)
1 If objects are carried onto another parcel of land by water, wind, avalanche or other force of nature or by chance event, or **if animals such as livestock, swarms of bees, poultry and fish stray onto his or her property, the landowner must grant the rightful owner access to his or her land to search for and retrieve them.**
**2 The landowner is entitled to claim damages for any damage caused and to that end has a special lien as to such objects and animals.**
Art. 719 (On Escaped Animals from About Acquisition of Ownership in the part about Chattle Ownership)
1 Captured animals become ownerless if they regain their freedom and their owner fails to search for them immediately and persistently with a view to recapturing them.
2 Domesticated animals become ownerless once they regress to a feral state and no longer return to their masters.
**3 Swarms of bees do not become ownerless by virtue of straying onto land belonging to others.**
Art. 725 (on Driftage in a section about Found Property)
1 If chattels are carried onto a person’s property by water, wind, avalanche or other force of nature or by chance event, or if animals belonging to others stray onto his or her property, such a person has the rights and obligations of the finder of a lost object.
**2 If a swarm of bees flies into an occupied beehive belonging to another person, the owner of that hive acquires said swarm without obligation to compensate.**
Art. 720
1 A person finding a lost object must inform its owner and, if the latter is unknown, either report the find to the police or himself take appropriate steps to publicise the find and trace the owner.
2 He or she has a duty to report the find to the police if the value of the object clearly exceeds ten francs.
3 A person who finds an object in an occupied house or on premises used for public services or public transport must deposit it with the head of the household, the tenant or the supervisor.
b. Animals
Art. 720a596
1 A person who finds a lost animal must, subject to Art. 720 para. 3, inform the owner or, if the latter is unknown, report his or her find.
2 The cantons designate the authority to which such finds must be reported.