18th June 2007, 01:43 PM
That would certainly be my reading: past licences cannot be valid if there were never lawful powers to issue such licences. Good faith or proper intent, on the part of either the Coroner's Department or archaeologists, simply do not enter into the question. It is this 'absolute' legal situation, which cannot be avoided by agreement or compromise, no matter how 'sensible', which is so worrying and which, in my view, requires that the Government take the lead, the most obvious method being by seeking urgent judicial review.