Historic and Archaeological Heritage and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023
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Chapter 2 Ownership and disposal of archaeological objects | ||
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State ownership of archaeological objects with no known owner, etc. | ||
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96. (1) Without prejudice to any other rights of the State arising in relation to any archaeological object found before 21 November 1994 but subject to section 4 (4)(a), there shall, by virtue of this subsection, be vested in the State the ownership of any archaeological object where such object has no known owner. | ||
(2) The ownership of an archaeological object vested in the State by virtue of subsection (1) is an absolute and immediate right to possession of the object. | ||
(3) An owner or owner exception of land, not being the State, is deemed not to acquire any rights of ownership to an archaeological object found on, in or under the land. | ||
(4) A finder of an archaeological object is deemed not to acquire any rights of ownership to the object. | ||
(5) Notwithstanding subsections (3) and (4), the landowner on whose land an archaeological object is found, or the finder of an archaeological object, shall, if the object is taken from him or her other than in accordance with this Act or another enactment, or if he or she is induced to relinquish possession of the object by dishonesty, be deemed to be the owner of the object for the purposes of any offences under the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001 . | ||
(6) Subject to subsection (8), without prejudice to any other rights of the State to an archaeological object, the Board may, in respect of an archaeological object found between 6 December 1922 and 21 November 1994, apply to the court for an order declaring the object to be in the ownership of the State. | ||
(7) The court may grant an order referred to in subsection (6) if it is satisfied that, in all the circumstances, it would be appropriate to do so, and the order may be so granted subject to such conditions specified in the order as the court thinks are appropriate. | ||
(8) An application under subsection (6) shall be made to the Circuit Court. | ||
(9) An application under subsection (6) may be made ex parte in accordance with rules of court. |