Quote:
Originally Posted by Harmon
I buy a bike. Crook steals it from off my porch and sells it to you.
Now I see you riding down the street on my bike. I go up to you, claim my bike, and you say you bought it in good faith. You refuse to give me my bike.
I follow you home and take the bike off your porch when you go inside.
Have I stolen "your" bike? Do you really think that the police should arrest me for taking my own bike, and make me give it back to you?
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Yes, yes, and no. In that scenario, you are a vigilante, tampering with evidence in a crime, even if that evidence is your bike. For the law to be otherwise is to invite vigilantism, which is just not a good idea. The moment that it's up to you, and only you, to determine if
that bike is your stolen bike, you have little incentive to tell the truth about it.