Posted on 02/27/2009 11:54:18 AM PST by BGHater
A rare 1776 copy of the Declaration of Independence belongs to a Virginia technology entrepreneur, not the state of Maine, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled Friday.
Richard Adams Jr. of Fairfax County purchased the document from a London book dealer in 2001 for $475,000. But the state of Maine claimed it belongs to the town of Wiscasset, where it was kept by the town clerk in 1776.
Virginia's high court said that a lower court did not err in its ruling in Adams' favor because Maine didn't prove the document was ever an official town record and that Adams had superior title to the print.
Adams' attorney, Robert K. Richardson, has argued that Wiscasset's town clerk copied the text of the Declaration of Independence into the town's record books on Nov. 10, 1776. It's that transcription, not the document upon which it was based, that is the official town record, Richardson said.
"The fact that the print was not made by an authorized public officer and was not intended to be the official memorial of the Declaration precluded the print from qualifying as a 'public record' under common law," the court said in its ruling.
Adams, who gained fame when he founded UUNet Technologies Inc., the first commercial Internet service provider, sued to establish title to the document after learning that Maine was trying to get it back.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Virginia ping!
GGG ping!
It never occured to the State of Maine to just offer to buy it from the owner. No, much more fun to go to court and try to STEAL it.
Good point.
That's how it works in MOST places, I think.
Dadburned, Yankee Carpet-baggers!!!
At least the guy has a correct last name. Would LOVE to own a copy of the Declaration of Independence!
> It never occured to the State of Maine to just offer to buy it from the owner. No, much more fun to go to court and try to STEAL it.
This much is certain: it would have been cheaper to offer to buy it in the first instance, rather than trying to buy it now.
On the assumption that he wants to sell it at all, he’d be less-than-human not to demand a hefty premium now, seeing how they tried to swipe it by foul means.
Typical government - try to steal something by force that someone else had worked and paid for.
>At least the guy has a correct last name. Would LOVE to own a copy of the Declaration of Independence!
Print one out... sure, it’s not the same, but its amazing how many grievances against King George are validly applied to our own country.
Legalesse for the schoolyard taunt, "Finders keepers, losers weepers!"
and, my favorite old standby, "Possession is 9/10th of the Law"
I’d at least double my price were I this fellow.
This is big news!! I had no idea that the State of Maine even pretended to care about the Constitution any more.
A private individual actually beat the thug state! Hot dog, there is good news out there. Now if we could just get the RINO senators from the state to READ the thing!
It's the lieberal way and Maine is a lieberal state.
Quick, ping Buckhead.
That surely looks like a proportionally spaced font - possibly palotino.
;-0
Does it have an invisible treasure map on the back?
I was just about to ask that hehe.
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