Editing Nemo dat quod non habet (section)

==United States==
In [[Law of the United States|American law]], a [[bona fide purchaser|''bona fide'' purchaser]] who unknowingly purchases and subsequently sells stolen goods will, at [[common law]], be held liable in [[trover]] for the full market value of those goods as of the date of [[Conversion (law)|conversion]].  Since the true owner retains legal title, the seller is liable even in a chain of successive ''bona fide'' purchasers (i.e., the true owner can successfully sue the fifth ''bona fide'' purchaser in trover).  However, the problem of successive ''bona fide'' purchasers can be remedied: If the jurisdiction recognises an [[implied warranty]] that the seller has title to the property (such as under Article 2 of the [[Uniform Commercial Code]] (UCC)), then the ''bona fide'' purchaser can sue the seller for breach of that implied warranty. [[Courts of equity]] traditionally also recognise various other exceptions, likely giving rise to the idea embodied in the modern UCC.

This rule is exemplified in circumstances like the [[Holocaust]] reconciliation movement, where property, such as works of art, stolen or confiscated by the [[Nazism|Nazis]] was returned to the families of the original owners.  Anyone who purchased the art or thought they had ownership was denied any rights over the litigious [[property]] due to the ''nemo dat'' rule.

As mentioned earlier, the ''nemo dat'' rule has numerous exceptions. [[Legal tender]], for example, does not adhere to the rule in certain circumstances. For example, if a rogue buys goods from a ''bona fide'' merchant, then that merchant will not have to return the bills to the true owner because holding the rule to be otherwise would disrupt the economy and prevent the free flow of goods.  The same may be true of other [[Negotiable instrument|"negotiable" instruments]] like [[cheque]]s. If Alice, a thief, steals a cheque from Bob and sells it to innocent Charlie, then Charlie is entitled to deal with the cheque, and Bob cannot claim it back from Charlie (though the name appearing on the cheque may affect the validity of such a transfer).

Another matter is the transfer of other legal rights normally granted by ownership. In 2011, a US District judge ruled that a woman who had purchased a stolen laptop could sue a device tracking company for invasion of privacy stemming from recording software installed on the laptop to facilitate its recovery after being stolen.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/08/couple-can-sue-laptop-tracking-company-for-spying-on-sex-chats.ars|title=Couple can sue laptop-tracking company for spying on sex chats|work=[[Ars Technica]]|date=31 August 2011|access-date=5 May 2021|last=Zetter |first=Kim}}</ref> This ruling demonstrated that ''bona fide'' purchasers are entitled to some rights by virtue of possession alone, or that ''nemo dat'' is superseded by the ''bona fide'' purchaser's [[right to privacy]].