Treasure Finding In The Eyes Of The Law, 700 Years Ago.

nice,,,,I like it.....Similar (Taxes)to todays salvage laws in many countries....I like another old salvage law- people who live closer to the sea (Oceans)will know--Find something and only after a year is it yu's....til then someone can claim it.

The idea that buried treasure belongs to the king was a common principle in mediaeval Europe. In Britain you can still see the remnants of it in modern Treasure Trove laws, where the coroner (the Crown's agent) makes a formal legal inquest to determine whether the excavated items are treasure (and therefore belong to the Crown), or not (and therefore belong to the finder).

Don't forget: before the invention of metal detectors, there was basically no way to discover buried metallic objects that were deeper than a plough would dig, unless by very fortuitous accident (perhaps by somebody digging a well, or the foundations for a large building). This is why "treasure-hunters" are often mocked and derided in mediaeval texts, because without any actual means of finding treasure, they were left with occult/mystical means of searching for it (such as dowsing) or resorted to buying "treasure maps" telling them where to dig, pirate-style. Scammers and conmen were, of course, always happy to make and sell many such "maps" to their victims.