There is more property law than there is law dealing with human needs. I assume this is so since property owners have more clout to create law for their own pruposes than poor people do.

Some grocery chains were incensed that poor people were raiding the dumpsters so they sprayed the food in the dumptwers with kerosene.
Most of those practices have ended with the need of food banks in the area.

Perhaps it would be illuminating to learn what laws govern the practice of dumpster diving.



When a church burned down that had hundreds of stained glass windows I asked the priest if I could have a piece of glass. He declined my request. Understandably just because something is in ruins it does not mean that the artifacts and remains are free to the public. Tomb raiders are criminals whether the grave is thousands of years old or freshly buried. Archeologists here would certainly agree that there are ways of doing these things the right way.