I disagree with your interpretation that Cliegg “technically” bought 3PO.
We don’t know the legal rights of slaves in that universe, but presuming this is like slaves in ancient Roman times and they can own property, then 3PO was Shmi’s from the beginning. Buying a slave wouldn’t automatically give you possession of the slave’s property, therefore it was always Shmi’s droid and Cliegg never owned it.
It’s possible that in this universe, slaves can’t own property and Cliegg bought 3PO from Watto in addition to Shmi. But I think it unlikely that Anakin would have built 3PO “to help his mom” if Watto automatically owned it. If Watto owned 3PO he would’ve sold it long before Cliegg bought Shmi.
We also don’t know that Anakin stole 3PO. If it belonged to his mom, he could have simply inherited it when she died.
One could also make the argument that 3PO was always Anakin’s property, and he just left it behind when he left Tattooine.
I disagree with your interpretation that Cliegg “technically” bought 3PO.
We don’t know the legal rights of slaves in that universe, but presuming this is like slaves in ancient Roman times and they can own property, then 3PO was Shmi’s from the beginning. Buying a slave wouldn’t automatically give you possession of the slave’s property, therefore it was always Shmi’s droid and Cliegg never owned it.
It’s possible that in this universe, slaves can’t own property and Cliegg bought 3PO from Watto in addition to Shmi. But I think it unlikely that Anakin would have built 3PO “to help his mom” if Watto automatically owned it. If Watto owned 3PO he would’ve sold it long before Cliegg bought Shmi.
We also don’t know that Anakin stole 3PO. If it belonged to his mom, he could have simply inherited it when she died.
One could also make the argument that 3PO was always Anakin’s property, and he just left it behind when he left Tattooine.