Thai antiquities, resting uneasily

Thai antiquities, resting uneasily - New York Times, February 17, 2008
...He also cited a precedent established by a 2003 federal appellate court decision against the antiquities Frederick Schultz, which puts a burden on the foreign government to show that it enforces its own property statute.
Imagine “you have this vast body of archaeological material over which another government has waved its wand and said it’s ours,” Mr. Urice said, “but they have not done anything more than that to protect it. Under those circumstances, there is an open question as to whether the U.S. would treat it as stolen.”
As for the next steps in the federal investigation, Mr. Urice is not placing any bets.
“The whole thing could be dropped altogether because of insufficient evidence or because they are feeling weak about their legal theories,” he said, “or this could move forward into an important, precedent-setting case.”