LOST AND FOUND

a place in a public buildingwhere things

that people havelost are stored
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/lost-and-found

Lost Property
The common law distinguished between
lost property and mislaid property. Lost
property is personal property that was
unintentionally left by its true owner.
Mislaid property is personal property that
was intentionally set down by its owner
and then forgotten. For example, a wallet
that falls out of someone's pocket is lost.
A wallet accidentally left on a table in a
restaurant is mislaid.
At common law, a person who found
lost personal property could keep it until
and unless the original owner comes
forward. This rule applied to people who
discovered lost property in public areas,
as well as to people who discovered lost
property on their property. Mislaid
property, on the other hand, generally
goes to the owner of the property where
it was found. Thus, for example, a person
who finds a wallet lost in the street may
keep it. If, however, a person finds a
wallet inside a barbershop, the shop
owner might have a better claim to the
wallet. The basic theory behind this
distinction is that owners of mislaid
property are more likely to remember
where the property is. Allowing property
owners to keep it makes it easier for the
true owner to recover the property.
Real property may not be lost or mislaid.
Many jurisdictions have statutes that
modify the common law's treatment of
lost or abandoned property. Typically,
these statutes require lost personal
property to be turned over to a
government official, and that if the
property is not claimed within a set
period of time, it goes to the finder and
the original owner's rights to the property
are terminated.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/lost_property
http://www.tseatc.com/civilcodelaws.html