There are four claimants in this case: Ellie, Oskar, Hakan and Virginia. Since the owner of the bag cannot be identified, the one with the better title will be entitled to it. Indeed, “in the case of competing claims to ownership ... titles are relative and the issue falls to be determined by reference to the relative strengths of the two claims and the party with the better title (however frail it may be) is entitled to succeed” .
First of all, a person who can establish prior possession to a chattel has a better claim than another whose possession is later in time: Armory v Delamirie , and Costello v Chief Constable of Derbyshire Constabulary . Therefore, as a first come, first served basis, Oskar would have a better title than Ellie because he is the one that had possession first.…show more content… However, since intention to possess and control do not have to occur at the same time but must only coincide, it could be argued that Ellie would have a better title to the bag because even though she acquired factual possession later, she formed an intention to possess the bag before Oskar as she saw it first. This would be left for the court to decide but it is likely that Oskar will be held to have a better title to the bag than Ellie as he had factual possession first and it would be hard for Ellie to prove she had an intention to possess before
