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Pristis@aol.com wrote, 'It is easy to be lulled into a sense that Canadians are "just like us" with the same values. Then something like this proposed legislation comes to light. It seems that Canadians don't have the same private property rights that we do!' Who are "we" on this international listserver? You must mean those of US. ;-) Actually, with fifty state legal codes in the USA, almost anything is possible. Decades ago, Alabama's Antiquities Act made it illegal for anyone but Alabama archaeologists (or those working with them) to excavate artefacts, and this includes private property owners. Potsherds, arrowheads, and other artefacts may be collected legally from the surface. As best as I can tell, buried artefacts may be privately owned but not collected in Alabama, whereas the proposal in Newfoundland is to declare fossils as public property. Although the Alabama law has proved difficult to enforce, it has probably prevented some damage from occurring just by being on the books. Unfortunately, the Act does not apply to fossils, which are currently unprotected except (like anything else found on private or state-owned land) by property laws. Andrew K. Rindsberg Geological Survey of Alabama P.O. Box 869999 Tuscaloosa, AL 35486, USA "I'm not a lawyer and this message does not constitute rigorous legal advice."
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