treasure!

[geebs]

Just watching "The Goonies" right now. Actually, what is the rule on buried treasure and the like? I mean, let's say you do find the horde of some famous pirate? Can you keep it for yourself? Or would some archeologist say you couldn't? Or, if someone could prove they were the descendant of someone who was robbed by the pirate, would they be able to claim some of the treasure? It just seems nowadays there are rules preventing you from just taking something from the ruins of an ancient civilization for yourself, and I would think that would fall into the same category. I could be totally wrong though.

Comments

depends on where you are

[7500centfish.livejournal.com]

if its on your land ... its yours

if it is found in a culture rich country (i.e. Egypt, Mexico, Italy, etc.) ... it belongs to the country. Especially for the US who implemented the UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property in 1983. There are also other laws like the 1906 Antiquities act and CITES.

if someone tries to fight you for it ... take them to court. There the court would have to first determine what the statue of limitations via
* Demand and Refusal: they demand the booty, you refuse. You must prove that the booty is yours.
* Discovery: they discover that you have the booty. They must prove that the booty is theirs.
* and/or Laches: part seeking relief has negligently delayed taking action to the detriment of the defendant and allowing that party to prevail would be unjust.

In all cases due diligence must be proven to assure the proper victor.

Archaeologist/Historians ... would always like the stuff back for historical purposes. You've already looted it, why not give the rest to them.

In the case of Goonies ... no one can claim it so take it for yourself. If you have any problems shuffle it through Switzerland but don't tell anybody. Plus its a movie, they are just props anyway.