Defending a Meteorite in Court?

Forsberg and Zetterqvist with their meteorite find. (source: The Times)

Post Author - Ellis Nolan

Believe it or not, rocks falling from the sky are serious legal business.

In March of 2024, a Swedish court of appeals ruled that meteorites are the property of the people who own the land they happen to fall on. The court’s reasoning was that since meteorites are mostly made of iron, an element found on Earth, they are considered “immovable” property, and thus, are considered part of the land itself.

The story behind this case begins in November of 2020, when a meteorite landed in Uppland, Sweden, and was found by two geologists, Andreas Forsberg and Anders Zetterqvist. Forsberg and Zetterqvist donated the meteorite to the Swedish Museum of Natural History. However, in 2022, Johan Benzelstierna von Engeström, the owner of the land on which the meteorite fell, appealed the district court’s decision that the meteorite was the property of the finders. Arguing that it was “immovable” property was enough to convince the appeals judge to reverse the lower court’s decision.

The Muonionalusta meteorite and its distinct Widmanstätten patterns

Here at Mini Museum, we definitely don’t claim to be lawyers, but we do know a thing or two about meteorites! While the cores of most meteorites are made of iron and small amounts of zinc, which are both found on Earth, meteorites contain something that isn’t found anywhere on Earth: Widmanstätten patterns. Since the iron and zinc in the cores of meteorites have been cooling for billions of years, longer than the Earth has existed, they form angular lattices unlike any Earthbound material.

These patterns actually help scientists determine what is a meteorite and what isn’t, since they are virtually impossible to forge. It’s hard to say whether including information on these unique patterns would have helped the geologists’ case, but it is another example of why meteorites are so fascinating.

Want a meteorite that you won’t have to hire a lawyer to keep? Check out our collection of meteorite specimens here!