Finders keepers, losers weepers

Cultural  

1. A person who finds something can keep it, and the loser has no right to it. This proverb is of dubious ethical merit.

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Example Sentences

Much to the chagrin of playground veterans, the law is often more complex than “finders keepers, losers weepers.”

From New York Times

"Finders keepers, losers weepers" is an old adage that will be familiar to anyone who has lost something and seen it fall into someone else's hands.

From BBC

I hadn’t thought about the phrase “finders keepers, losers weepers” in decades, but I should have considered the latter half of the maxim in that moment.

From New York Times

I knew if it wasn’t for Byron being my big brother Larry would have said something like “Since my fifty cents found this other fifty cents and they hooked up to make this here buck I’m gonna keep the whole thing. You know the rules, finders keepers, losers weepers.”

From Literature

The "finders keepers, losers weepers" rule of thumb dates back to a celebrated case in 1722 when a British court held that a chimney sweep could keep a jewel he had found in a sooty flue.

From Time Magazine Archive