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.”
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