Are there any laws that govern the use of code that lacks a license? [closed]

Question

I recently found some use of code in some program I was asked to complete. The code it was taken from didn't have a license. This made me think there should be some rules/laws that govern that kind of work. I didn't know what they could be, hence this question.

For my own personal toys I always at least make sure to leave a comment detailing where something came from. At minimum It seems like the decent thing to do.

Answer 1

Many countries have an implicit copyright, so no, it is not in the public domain.