Swedish landowner can keep 14kg meteorite after court battle with geologists

The meteorite was ruled to be ‘immovable property’ after it fell on to private property in 2020

A Swedish landowner won a legal battle on Thursday to keep a 14kg (31lb) meteorite when an appeals court ruled that such rocks should be considered “immovable property” and part of the land where they are found.

The land on which the meteorite landed contains iron, which the meteorite is made of. Therefore it “cannot be easily separated from what is usually regarded as (immovable) property”, the Svea court of appeal ruled.