S.C. Code Ann. § 54-7-40: Issuance of warrants for stolen goods; penalty for retention.

Any magistrate on information, upon oath, of any part of cargo or effects of any vessel lost or stranded on or near the seacoasts being unlawfully conveyed or concealed or of some cause or reasonable suspicion thereof may issue his warrant for searching for such goods or effects as in cases of stolen goods. If such goods or effects be found in any house or other place or in the possession of any person not legally authorized to have them and the person in whose possession they shall be found shall not immediately, upon demand, deliver them to the owner or person lawfully authorized to receive them, he shall forfeit and pay to the owner of such goods, his agent or attorney, treble the value of such goods.