The meteorite hunters Anders Zetterqvist and Andreas Forsberg lost in the Court of Appeal the highly publicized dispute over a meteorite that landed outside Enköping. Now the Supreme Court is taking up the case.
It was Zetterqvist and Forsberg who found the meteorite, on the landowner Johan Benzelstierna von Engeström's property at Refvelsta estate, outside Enköping in November 2020.
The case went to court because they did not agree on who had the best right to the meteorite.
In the District Court, the geologists won, but in the Svea Court of Appeal, the landowner won. According to the Court of Appeal, the meteorite should be considered as real property and accrue to Johan Benzelstierna von Engeström.
The case is unique in Swedish legal history and the legislation did not provide any clear guidance beforehand. You are not allowed to take stones from someone else's land, according to the Penal Code, but for ancient relics there is special legislation. Meteorites are not mentioned at all.
