# Is it legal to open other people's mail in Australia?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-open-other-peoples-mail-in-australia/518823
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 24, 2009, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-open-other-peoples-mail-in-australia/518823 "2009-11-24T21:01:40Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2010, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-open-other-peoples-mail-in-australia/518823/21 "2010-10-22T18:08:32Z")
> [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](#):
>
> So, if it was legal for me to open these envelopes (they were addressed and shipped to my street address) would it also have been legal, in Austrailia, for me to cash the cashier’s checks?
Even if the envelope had been addressed to you, if you knew the cheque was not intended for you, it would be a crime to cash it. That’s not just Australian law: it’s pretty general. If you innocently find something of value that you know belongs to someone else, you can’t take it for your own use. The only exception would be if you couldn’t find the real owner.
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### Author:  [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2010, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-open-other-peoples-mail-in-australia/518823/22 "2010-10-22T22:42:40Z")
> [@Giles](#):
>
> Even if the envelope had been addressed to you, if you knew the cheque was not intended for you, it would be a crime to cash it. That’s not just Australian law: it’s pretty general. If you innocently find something of value that you know belongs to someone else, you can’t take it for your own use. The only exception would be if you couldn’t find the real owner.
This particular check (yep, this is real) came in an envelope with my address as both the sender and the recipent, and was a cashier’s check, not referencing anyone’s account. (What we actually did is turned it over to the US postal service, and let them deal with it), but remember, I’m asking about Australian law, where it seems to be legal to open any mail correctly sent and delivered to your address.
I guess the short question is, so if you can open it, does the contents also belong to you?
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### Author:  [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2010, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-open-other-peoples-mail-in-australia/518823/23 "2010-10-23T02:24:50Z")
> [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](#):
>
> I guess the short question is, so if you can open it, does the contents also belong to you?
No. Why would it?
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2010, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-open-other-peoples-mail-in-australia/518823/24 "2010-10-23T08:26:48Z")
> [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](#):
>
> No she didn’t. She said the letter was addressed to somebody with a similar name to hers. It’s entirely reasonable to assume that there may have been some sort of printing or transcription error, and that the mail was intended for her.
I guess I’ll go ahead and address this, which I must’ve missed a year ago. My point is she didn’t just go through and open every piece of mail. She did check to see who it was addressed to. She either assumed it was a mistaken name, or didn’t notice the difference until she’d already opened it.
Also, I’ll point out that I do understand making a mistake like that, anyways, as I’ve indicated in a more current thread. But I do think people who don’t live alone should be in the habit of checking.
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2010, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-open-other-peoples-mail-in-australia/518823/25 "2010-10-23T08:30:10Z")
> [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](#):
>
> This particular check (yep, this is real) came in an envelope with my address as both the sender and the recipent, and was a cashier’s check, not referencing anyone’s account. (What we actually did is turned it over to the US postal service, and let them deal with it), but remember, I’m asking about Australian law, where it seems to be legal to open any mail correctly sent and delivered to your address.
>
> I guess the short question is, so if you can open it, does the contents also belong to you?
I think that’s the wrong question. If all it has is an address, then how do you know it isn’t for you? And if it does have someone else’s name on it, why would you think you could cash it?
Still, the return address being the same as the recipiant address is weird. I almost wonder if you were being tested somehow.
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### Author:  [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)
#### Post date: [October 23, 2010, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-legal-to-open-other-peoples-mail-in-australia/518823/26 "2010-10-23T12:06:30Z")
> [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](#):
>
> This particular check (yep, this is real) came in an envelope with my address as both the sender and the recipent, and was a cashier’s check, not referencing anyone’s account.
But the envelope was addressed to a church that you have no affiliation with, right? Not address to you specifically, or to “The Householder” or even just the address, but to a specific organisation you are not involved with. It’s hard to claim you cashed the cheques in good faith if Jim-Bob’s Church of Cut-Price Holiness is the addressee on the envelope.
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