Count Johann Penzelsterna von Engeström has been able to keep a meteorite found on his property after a Swedish court ruled it was part of the property.
The meteorite was found on the Revelsta estate outside Enköping in November 2020. The two Finns, Anders Zetterqvist and Andreas Forsberg, won in the Uppsala District Court when the case first came up in December 2022.
Now the Svea Court of Appeal, corresponding to the Court of Appeal, has chosen to overturn the district court's decision after Binzelsterna von Engeström appealed and argued that the stone was real property and therefore belonged to the estate.
– In sum, the court finds that the meteorite, when found, constituted immovable property belonging to the estate, writes the Court of Appeal.
The court believes that ownership of the meteorite was already owned by Refvelsta when it struck the property, and therefore Zetterqvist and Forsberg cannot claim ownership under the Lost Property Act.
“This is great for the general public, because it means we are one step closer to being able to display the meteorite publicly,” says Penzelsterna von Engstrom, who says he wants to display the meteorite in a museum in Sweden.
The ruling means that the finders must compensate Refvelsta Godsforvaltning AB for legal costs amounting to approximately SEK 600,000.
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