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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!'
arindsburg@gsa.state.al.us wrote:
<snip humor>
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
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