Findings are keepings

Proverbial Meaning: When you find something that isn't yours, that the original owner has lost, you are allowed to keep it.

Literal Origins: Things that are found can be kept.

Common Usage: Although most English speakers would never phrase it this way, almost everyone will know what it means and will have heard its more common usage, "finders keepers". It is often used as a thinly disguised excuse to take something that isn't yours, to make one feel that it isn't theft when, in actual fact, it is.