27th February 2006, 02:47 PM
This is just like deja vu all over again - we've been having this discussion elsewhere on the Forum very recently.
The WSI would have included a paragraph along the lines of 'the archaeological contractor will endeavour to persuade the landowner to provide written consent for the finds to be deposited along with the rest of the archive'. This is all that can realistically be achieved within the current legal framework - any attempt to use a WSI (and therefore a planning condition ) to get a landowner to sign away legal title to objects as yet unknown is unlikely to stand up to any sort of legal scrutiny.
WRT to the IFA, the Standard and Guidance for Excavation indicates (3.9.4) that the archaeologist has a duty to inform the landowner of their rights as regards ownership of artefacts. It goes on (3.9.6) with the point above regarding endeavouring to persuade the landowner to sign the finds away, and then (3.9.7) to provide guidance on how to ensure some level of integrity of the archive in the event of the landowner keeping hold of some or all of the finds.
Nothing in the IFA Standard and Guidance indicates that an archaeologist would be in breach of their duties by not drafting a WSI (or approving one) that compels the landowner to hand over all of the finds, and I would suppose that there is a very good legal reason for this.
What we need is a change in the law that brings the rest of the UK in line with Scottish law regarding 'newly-discovered ancient objects'. Any chance of that in a country where large landowners still dominate the legislature ?
Beamo
The WSI would have included a paragraph along the lines of 'the archaeological contractor will endeavour to persuade the landowner to provide written consent for the finds to be deposited along with the rest of the archive'. This is all that can realistically be achieved within the current legal framework - any attempt to use a WSI (and therefore a planning condition ) to get a landowner to sign away legal title to objects as yet unknown is unlikely to stand up to any sort of legal scrutiny.
WRT to the IFA, the Standard and Guidance for Excavation indicates (3.9.4) that the archaeologist has a duty to inform the landowner of their rights as regards ownership of artefacts. It goes on (3.9.6) with the point above regarding endeavouring to persuade the landowner to sign the finds away, and then (3.9.7) to provide guidance on how to ensure some level of integrity of the archive in the event of the landowner keeping hold of some or all of the finds.
Nothing in the IFA Standard and Guidance indicates that an archaeologist would be in breach of their duties by not drafting a WSI (or approving one) that compels the landowner to hand over all of the finds, and I would suppose that there is a very good legal reason for this.
What we need is a change in the law that brings the rest of the UK in line with Scottish law regarding 'newly-discovered ancient objects'. Any chance of that in a country where large landowners still dominate the legislature ?
Beamo