• wolfpack86@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    The crux of it isn’t whether the law applies or not, it’s whether the law should exist or not.

    I argue the law is dumb or should have an expriy window of 50 years or whatever.

    If they really wanted it, they should have found it themselves.

    • Phanatik@kbin.social
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      9 months ago

      Finders keepers isn’t legally binding and there’s a vast difference between a company owning a shipwreck and a country, namely that the company will just auction off whatever it finds to private collections or museums for the sake of profit.

      There should be a bounty for finding historical pieces but you shouldn’t be able to own them. Just because you found it, doesn’t make you the de facto owner.

      I don’t know whether or not France were looking for it but they are within their rights to claim what’s theirs.