17th September 2010, 06:54 AM
Fundamentally, I don't really care whether a grown adult submits himself to the tender mercies of the French justice system, and my french is rather flaky, but I fail to see how a french magistrate is going to show the same leniency over a technical offence to an English treasure hunter as to a French (quasi) governmental organisation that overlooked the need to obtain permission from a different (quasi) governmental body that also overlooked its need to approve those works, and on balance, later decided against following up.
I think that you'd need to talk to the lawyers involved to get a definite idea, and being lawyers, you're unlikely to get a better answer than that you'd be committing an offence that would be punishable, but that others, in different circumstances have got away with it. Your call, now please stop with the abuse and make your mind up.
as for Jack quoting Voltaire, I'm afraid that is just arrant rubbish. There's a good reason why there are laws against perjury, slander and incitement, even if the application of those laws is a bit, well, rubbish.
I think that you'd need to talk to the lawyers involved to get a definite idea, and being lawyers, you're unlikely to get a better answer than that you'd be committing an offence that would be punishable, but that others, in different circumstances have got away with it. Your call, now please stop with the abuse and make your mind up.
as for Jack quoting Voltaire, I'm afraid that is just arrant rubbish. There's a good reason why there are laws against perjury, slander and incitement, even if the application of those laws is a bit, well, rubbish.