Have you used the ICE Conditions of Contract?

[1man1desk]

Posted by Unit of 1:

quote:Shouldnt the contract be with the owners of the archaeology?

Not quite sure what you mean, but archaeological contracts are the same as any other - they have two parties:

- an employer, who will pay for the work, and
- a contractor, who will do it.

In our case, the employer is usually a developer or the developer's agent. The developer usually owns the land, or has bought rights to it from the person who does own the land. The archaeology is effectively part of the land.

Therefore, effectively, the employer does usually own the archaeology, except for portable items deemed to be Treasure Trove, which belong to the Crown.

Now, you could argue about whether ownership of land should convey ownership of the archaeology in it, but the fact is that it does. If you wanted to change that, you would have to make some fairly fundamental changes to the nature of land ownership law in Britain. You would also have to find some way of defining where the archaeology starts and the land stops.

If you can do that, and do it in a way that achieves general acceptance by society as a whole, you are a better man than I am Gunga Din.

1man1desk

to let, fully furnished