Sort of? There’s abandonment in the sense of “I don’t want this thing anymore. It’s no longer mine.” and in the sense of “This thing is abandoned, it’s mine no

Sort of? There’s abandonment in the sense of “I don’t want this thing anymore. It’s no longer mine.” and in the sense of “This thing is abandoned, it’s mine now.” We have the latter but not the former. Ownership of something allows you exclusive rights to exploit it for gain… but also puts on you exclusive responsibility for it. Nobody minds if you don’t want the benefits anymore, but we want someone responsible for managing that thing’s impact on society and others. So you can’t just decide to abandon things (*offer not valid in Quebec). You are the owner until someone else chooses to take on the responsibilities of ownership. But in a case where there are multiple competing claims of ownership, abandonment is a consideration. If someone else wants ownership of something you’ve practically abandoned, they can take it and the court may agree that they have become the owner. (Though usual disclaimer about lawyers being expensive.) But the thing _always_ has and had an owner—someone responsible for it. Nothing is ever unowned (*offer valid in Quebec).