“Legal Victory: Swedish Landowner Retains Ownership of Meteorite”
A Swedish landowner emerged victorious in a legal dispute on Thursday, securing the right to retain a 14-kilogram (31-pound) meteorite after an appeals court deemed such celestial rocks as “immovable property,” integral to the land where they are discovered.
Swedish Landowner
The ruling from the Svea Court of Appeals stated that since the meteorite shares the same composition as the iron present in the land where it landed, it cannot be easily separated from the immovable property. The meteorite fell on private property in Uppland, north of Stockholm, on November 7, 2020.
Although two geologists discovered the meteorite in December of the same year and later transferred it to the Swedish Museum of Natural History in Stockholm, the landowner, Johan Benzelstierna von Engeström, contested their claim.
According to a report from the Swedish news agency TT, the landowner appealed a prior ruling by the Uppsala district court in December 2022, which granted ownership of the meteorite to the finders, Andreas Forsberg and Anders Zetterqvist. The district court argued that the meteorite, being movable property without an owner, did not belong to the landowner.
However, the appeals court reversed this decision, emphasizing that the iron meteorite’s composition is inherent to the earth’s surface. Judge Robert Green explained that meteorites should be considered part of the immovable property, akin to other stones, despite their extraterrestrial origin.
While Sweden’s ‘Allemansraetten’ law grants individuals the freedom to roam freely, it does not entitle anyone to claim a meteorite from another person’s land, clarified the Svea court.
Furthermore, the appeals court dismissed the finders’ claim of an agreement allowing them to take the meteorite, citing lack of evidence. It remains uncertain whether the geologists will pursue an appeal to Sweden’s Supreme Court.
