28th February 2006, 02:39 PM
1man1desk
You say
All I said is that the WSI would have to deal with the disposal of the finds, and that the developer would have to comply with what it said - not that the landowner could be made to sign away his/her rights.
.... there is no reason why a clause could not be included in the WSI in which they commit themselves to donate any archaeological remains to the recipient museum.
The developer would not have to comply with anything in the WSI if it were deemed to be an infringement of his/her rights under current legislation. A WSI may look to commit a developer or landowner to 'donate' archaeological remains to a specified museum, but the museum will only accept such a donation if it comes with a signed agreement of legal title.
What you appear to be suggesting is a clause that basically says 'We might find some artefacts on your land but cannot yet identify what sort, how many, current monetary value etc. However, whatever is found on your land during the course of archaeological excavations will automatically become the property of the specified museum, unless it falls within the remit of the Tresure Act or other legislation regarding human remains'.
I would regard such a clause as potentially adversely affecting the landowner's rights to ownership of all object that are found on (or in) their land.
Perhaps list-members with greater experience of the legal system may provide greater clarity on this issue.
I do agree with Curator Kid with regard to requiring full recording, drawing etc of all artefacts that are not going to be deposited in a museum. However, he is right to point out that anything required through a planning condition has to be 'reasonable'. As with so many of the things that we discuss here, I bet that this has never been tested in case law or through the Planning Inspectorate - i.e. how much recording of a single undecorated body sherd (one of thousands recovered from a site) is 'reasonable' ?
Beamo
You say
All I said is that the WSI would have to deal with the disposal of the finds, and that the developer would have to comply with what it said - not that the landowner could be made to sign away his/her rights.
.... there is no reason why a clause could not be included in the WSI in which they commit themselves to donate any archaeological remains to the recipient museum.
The developer would not have to comply with anything in the WSI if it were deemed to be an infringement of his/her rights under current legislation. A WSI may look to commit a developer or landowner to 'donate' archaeological remains to a specified museum, but the museum will only accept such a donation if it comes with a signed agreement of legal title.
What you appear to be suggesting is a clause that basically says 'We might find some artefacts on your land but cannot yet identify what sort, how many, current monetary value etc. However, whatever is found on your land during the course of archaeological excavations will automatically become the property of the specified museum, unless it falls within the remit of the Tresure Act or other legislation regarding human remains'.
I would regard such a clause as potentially adversely affecting the landowner's rights to ownership of all object that are found on (or in) their land.
Perhaps list-members with greater experience of the legal system may provide greater clarity on this issue.
I do agree with Curator Kid with regard to requiring full recording, drawing etc of all artefacts that are not going to be deposited in a museum. However, he is right to point out that anything required through a planning condition has to be 'reasonable'. As with so many of the things that we discuss here, I bet that this has never been tested in case law or through the Planning Inspectorate - i.e. how much recording of a single undecorated body sherd (one of thousands recovered from a site) is 'reasonable' ?
Beamo