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Re: The Effect of Ebay on Man in the Moon Marigolds



[Usual disclaimers about not being a lawyer; and I was not involved with the
recent recovery by the town of North Yarmouth, Maine of a copy of the
Declaration of Independence that was sold at auction.]

Depending on your state's law of replevin, and your city and state's
willingness to exercise their rights under that law, Lawrence may have a
case for retrieving the book.  In Maine, official town papers belong to the
town.  Period.  If they are past their retention period, and the town does
not want to keep them, then they are to be destroyed.  No one else can
legally own these documents.  So technically, if someone else has them, it
is similar to "owning" something that has been stolen.  In reality, the
state or town sometimes pays the person at least a partial amount of its
value, since the person who bought the documents usually had no idea that
they weren't supposed to have the documents.

I would check with the Massachusetts State Archivist to see what laws apply.
Because of the public relations issues involved, the city may not wish to
pursue this, but they should know their rights in case this comes up in the
future.  If Massachusetts has similar laws to Maine, at the least, it should
make a good article for the newsletter read by Mass. town officials.  In
Maine, we also try to send an annual reminder to rare book dealers and, I
believe, to auctioneers.

---------------------------------
Janet E. Roberts
Maine State Archives and        Tel: 207-287-5791
Maine Newspaper Project         FAX: 207-287-5739
#84 State House Station         email: janet.roberts@state.me.us
Augusta, ME   04333-0084

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