feds seize gold coins , page-9

When a person finds an object that does not belong to him then that person becomes a trustee for the owner.

Since the Gov of the United States did issue a confiscation order sometime during the 1930s the Judge ruled that the beneficiary of the trust [the owner] was nobody but the public treasury. You may argue, and I agree, that this is tough but DURA LEX SED LEX

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/dura_lex,_sed_lex