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Message:: [QUOTE="GinoLR, post: 14306278, member: 128351"]In Gaza they have their own laws about this, based upon their traditional sharia (Islamic law). Roughly speaking, a hoard is the property of the person who buried it or of his heirs. If the hoard is too ancient and no one knows who buried it, it is the property of the land owner but a share of it must be given to the common treasury. If there is no private land owner, the hoard is the property of "the Muslims" (now interpreted as the State), and a share of it (25% I think) must be distributed to the people who were present at the discovery of the hoard. In France the Napoleonic Civil Code (1803) states that a hoard must be divided 50 / 50% between the land owner and the person who found it. An additional law of 1941 (the Carcopino Law) states that if this hoard has an historical or archaeological interest (which is not the case with 19th or 20th c. gold coin-hoards, for ex.), it is public propriety and the state must give the land owner and the finder a fair financial compensation. Though nearly all Vichy-regime legislation was abolished and nullified by De Gaulle in 1944, this Carcopino law was preserved and is still valid.[/QUOTE]