HIGH COMMISSION OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC IN SYRIA AND LEBANON
Department of Antiquities
RULES ON Antiquities
Order No. 166 LR of November 7, 1933 relating to antiques regulations
BEIRUT
1935
Order No. 166-LR On regulations on antiquities in Syria and Lebanon (Official Bulletin of the Administrative Acts of the High Commission)
No. of November 30, 1933
The High Commissioner of the French Republic
Having regard to the decrees of the President of the French Republic dated November 23, 1920 and July 16, 1933.
Considering Order No. 207, dated March 26, 1926, regulating antiquities in Syria and Lebanon, Order No. / 48, dated January 31, 1927. on the antiques trade, Order No. 749, dated 3! January 1927, on antiques, Order No. 3375. dated December 17, 1930, on historical monuments, Considering Decree No. 651, dated December 10, 1926.
on the importation of antiquities from Palestine and Iraq,
Considering article 14 of the Declaration of Mandate.
On the proposal of the Director of the Antiquities Department,
Stop: TITLE I.
Antiques in general
CHAPTER I. – Definition
Art. 1st. – All products of human activity, whatever civilization they belong to, are considered to be antiquities; prior to the year 1700 (year 1107 of the Hegira),
Are assimilated to antiques and subject to the rules of this decree, immovable objects after the year 1700, the conservation of which is of public interest from the point of view of history or art, and which will be registered on the General Inventory of Historic Monuments planned 9 Art. 20.
Art. 2. —- Antiques are immovable or movable.
Are real estate antiques: –
1 °) any contribution of human industry covering the soil of geological formation (tells).
2) all old works or buildings; remains or remains of old buildings with or without a structure visible above the ground.
3 °) All movable objects attached to the fund or to the immovable in perpetuity.
4 °) all natural sites or sites suitable for human industry, such as rock shelters, caves, rocks bearing paintings, sculptures, moldings, or inscriptions.
Movable antiques are all objects or debris, objects, made, worked or modified by human hands and not in the preceding categories.
Art. 3. – In the event of litigation, the point of knowing if an object is or is not an antiques and if this antiques is immovable or movable, is fixed by the Director of the Service of Antiquities.
CHAPTER II. Of the Property of Antiquities Section I. Of Antiquities Already Discovered
Art. 4. – Subject to the provisions of the present regulations, the rights to which antiquities are the subject are governed by the laws of common law in force in the States under Mandate.
Art. 5. – Real estate antiques are presumed, unless proven otherwise, to belong to the State. Individuals, Wakfs, Communities or collectivities, and in general, legal persons governed by private law claiming ownership of movable or immovable antiques are required to provide proof of their rights in accordance with common law.
Art. 6. – Real estate antiques belonging to the State are part of the public domain. The prescription is not opposable to the State rights on movable antiquities.
Art. 7. – The State can always register a real estate antiquity belonging to an individual, Wakf etc …, on the General Inventory of Historical Monuments and continue the classification, in accordance with the procedure provided for in Title II of this decree: can also always classify a movable antique belonging to a private individual, Wakf etc …
The State will always be able to expropriate an ancient immovable property classified or proposed for classification, belonging to an individual, in accordance with the legislation in force. In evaluating the compensation for expropriation, which will only cover the actual and certain damage resulting from the eviction, no account will be taken of the value of the antiquity as such.
Section II. Antiques to discover
Art. 8. – As regards the antiquities to be discovered, they can only be products of fortuitous discoveries or products of regularly authorized excavations.
Art. 9. – Anyone who, except in the case of regularly authorized excavations, will have, in any place, in some circumstances or during any work whatsoever, discovered a real estate antiquity, must make it within twenty-four hours, the declaration to the nearest administrative authority, which will immediately notify the Director of the Antiquities Service and simultaneously the Curator of the National Museum of the region.
Art. 10. – The antiquity thus discovered is the property of the State, unless it is found to be the body and part of a building belonging to individuals, Wakfs, communities, legal persons etc., in which case it is declared to belong to the owner of the building.
If the antiquity was discovered in cultivated or built land belonging to an individual; wakf etc…, it is also property of the State except for this one to compensate the owners of the damage which could be to them.
The provisions of Art. 6 and 7 of this decree concerning real estate antiques apply as of right to real estate antiques discovered under such conditions.
Art. 11. – Anyone who has, under the same conditions and circumstances of place as above, accidentally found a movable antique, must within twenty four hours, make a declaration to the nearest administrative authority.
The latter will immediately and simultaneously notify the Director of the Antiquities service and the Curator of the National Museum of the Region.
Art. 12. – The Head of State, represented by the Director of the Antiquities Service and the Curators of the National Museums, will, within three words of the presentation of the object or of the notification to be made by the administrative authority from the place of the invention the right to acquire movable antiquity discovered incidentally after the date of this decree, by paying the inventor a sum representing one third of the value of the object.
The price of the object will be fixed amicably between the representative of the Head of State and the inventor. In these disagreements, an arbitrator, accepted by the High Commissioner, will be appointed by the two parties: his decision will be final.
If the parties cannot agree to choose this arbitrator, each appoints one, the High Commissioner a third: this arbitration commission decides the dispute by majority vote.
Art. 13. – If the State does not exercise its right to acquire the movable antiquity in question, it notifies the inventor of its decision within the prescribed period and through its representatives listed in Article 12 .
The inventor from the date of receipt of the notification becomes the owner of the object.
The notification will indicate the names, capacity and domicile of the inventor as well as the summary characteristics of the antiquity in question; it will bear a serial number, will be dated, signed and stamped by the competent Service.
This document will be valid as title of ownership.
Art. 14. – During the period allotted to the State to exercise this right of pre-emption, anyone who destroys, mutilates or damages in any way the antiquity discovered, will be punished with a fine of 25 to 10,000 LS
In addition, the alienation granted by the inventor before the State has made known its decision will be void.
Art. 15, – The State retains at any time the right to continue the classification of a movable antique discovered fortuitously.
Art. 16. – Any violation of Art. 9 and 11 will be punished with imprisonment from eight days to three months and a fine of 10 to 500 LS. or only one of these two penalties.
Art. 16. – Any violation of Art. 9 and 11 will be punished by imprisonment from eight days to three months and a fine of 10 to 500 LS. or only one of these two penalties.
In addition, the non-observance by the inventor of the advertising rules set out in Art. 9 and 11 makes him a possessor in bad faith, who, moreover, can in no case become owner by usucapion of the antiquities discovered.
In this case, the State has the right to bring an action at any time aimed at purely and simply dispossessing this possessor in bad faith.
Art. 17, – The question of ownership of the product of regularly authorized excavations will be dealt with in Title III of these regulations.
TITLE II: Protection of Antiquities
CHAPTER I. – General provisions
Art. 18. –
a) In general, it is forbidden to destroy, damage, mutilate a real estate or movable antiquity, to trace or engrave any inscription or any sign whatsoever; it is forbidden to appropriate, sell, buy without authorization any materials belonging or having belonged to these ancient constructions,
Any infringement of the provisions of this article will be punished by a fine of 25 to 10,000 LS without prejudice to the action for damages which may be brought.
b) In addition, in Chapters II and III of this title, a special protection regime is instituted for certain real estate and movable antiquities, which determines, in particular, the rights and duties, vis-à-vis the State, of the owners so-called antiques.
Art. 19. – Towns’ extension and embellishment plans can only be adopted after approval by the Director of the Antiquities Department. An architect from the Antiquities Service will participate in their establishment; when it comes to a locality where archeology is essential, the plan will be drawn up by the architect of the Service des Antiquités.
CHAPTER II .. Of the General Inventory of Historical Monuments.
Art. 20. – A register is opened in each of the States for the general inventory of Historic Monuments. Duplicates of these registers will be kept at the Department of Antiquities.
Art. 21. – Will be included in this inventory;
1 °) Real estate antiques belonging to the State,
2) real estate antiques belonging to individuals, wakfs, legal persons, communities, collectives, whose conservation presents from the point of view of art or history a public interest.
(The term “antiques” is taken in the broad sense defined in Part. I of these regulations).
Art. 22. – The Ministers of Public Instruction of the States, on the proposal or after advice of the Director of the Antiquities Service, carry the antiquities to the inventory and notify this registration by administrative means to the interested owners. Mention of this entry will also be made in the land register on the property sheet in the section reserved for the entry of restrictions on the right to dispose.
Art. 23. – The registration in the inventory will entail for the owners the obligation not to proceed on their funds to any modification of the building or part of registered, nor, in general, to any work likely to compromise the appearance and the antique character, Without having, two months previously, notified the Antiquities Department of their intention; and indicated the modifications or works they propose to carry out.
All infringements of the provisions of this article will be punished with a fine of 25 to 2000 LS without prejudice to the action for damages which may be.
Art. 24. —- The Antiquities Service will examine these projects; in the event that these damage the monument, he will endeavor – by amicable discussion with the owner – to amend the design. If an agreement is not possible. The Antiquities Department can only oppose the work by initiating the classification procedure as provided for in Chapter III of this title: it will notify the owner of the opening of this procedure. If, on the contrary, he authorizes the work, he will supervise them to ensure that they are carried out in accordance with his authorization.
However, if the said works had for design or effect to operate the fragmentation of the registered building: in order to sell the materials thus detached. the Antiquities Department would have a period of three years to proceed with the classification and could, in the meantime, postpone the work in question, by the notification indicated in the preceding paragraph.
Art. 25. – Any alienation of a building listed in the inventory must be notified to the Antiquities Department by the person who granted it within fifteen days.
Any violation of the provisions of this article will be punished with a fine of 1 to 200 LS.
CHAPTER III .. Classification of Historical Monuments
Art. 26. – Real estate and movable antiques are classified as Historical Monuments by decree of the Head of State on a proposal or after advice from the Director of the Antiquities Department.
SECTION I. Classification of real estate antiques
Art. 27, – Can be classified as historical monuments, any real estate antiquity registered in the “General Inventory of Historical Monuments”, and any land or building whose classification is necessary to isolate or clear a classified building.
Art. 26. – Any building or fund located near or in sight of such a building may be subject to legal easements of public interest in order to preserve a historic monument’s antique, artistic or picturesque character.
Art. 29. – From the day the Antiquities Department notifies the owner of the classification proposal, all the classification effects automatically apply to the building concerned. They cease to apply if the classification decision is not made within six months of this notification.
Art. 30. – classified may not be destroyed or moved, even in part, nor be the subject of any restoration, repair or modification work, without the consent of the Antiquities Department.
All infringements of the provisions of this article and of article 29 will be punished by a fine of 50 to 3,000 Ls. without prejudice to the action for damages which may be exercised.
Art. 31. – The costs resulting from consolidation or repair work on buildings listed in the general inventory or classified as historic monuments are borne by the owners of these buildings.
If the State is not the owner of such a building, it only bears the expenses representing the work carried out in addition to what the conservation of the monument in question would require. In this case, the Municipalities also participate in these expenses according to a proposal to be determined in each case.
Art. 32. – The antiquities service, in agreement with the state concerned, can always, after a formal notice from the owner remains unsuccessful, have repair or maintenance work carried out which is deemed essential for the conservation of listed or inventoried monuments. not owned by the state.
In case of emergency or peril recognized by the municipal technical services or the Antiquities department, and one day after the owner’s formal notice, the Director of the Antiquities Department or the President of the Municipality, in agreement with the department des Antiquités, will refer the matter to the president of the Court of First Instance for the purpose of ordering the appointment, within twenty-four hours, of a skilled person responsible for examining the condition of the buildings and the work estimate established by the Architect of the Antiquities Service. This expert must submit his report to the Registry of the Tribunal within 24 hours of his appointment. Within 48 hours of this filing, the Court will have to rule on the owner’s obligation:
a) or carry out under the supervision of an architect from the Antiquities Service and within a time limit to be determined the work deemed necessary.
b) or to pay into the hands of the Service des Antiquités a sum sufficient to cover the expenses resulting from this work.
In either case, the owner’s obligation is determined by article 31 of this decree.
This judgment will be enforceable immediately notwithstanding Opposition or appeal.
In the event of resistance by the owner to this execution, the municipal authority, within the municipal perimeters and the qualified administrative authority in localities without a municipality, will replace, at the behest of the Antiquities Service, the defaulting owner in the event. fulfillment of this obligation.
Art. 33. – No new construction can be leaned against a listed building, no poster placed and no easement established by agreement on the said building without authorization from the Antiquities Department.
Legal easements which may cause the degradation of monuments are not applicable to listed buildings,
Art. 34. – No building classified or proposed for classification may be included in an investigation for the purposes of expropriation for public utility or with the agreement of the Director of the Antiquities Department.
Art. 35. – On land classified as a historic monument, no excavation or rubbish deposit, no planting or excavation should be done, no tree should be cut or uprooted, no construction or irrigation work undertaken, no established cemetery, and in general, no change to the current state of the premises should be made without the authorization of the Antiquities Department.
It will also be forbidden to establish without the authorization of the Antiquities Service a lime kiln less than 500 m. of a listed building.
Any infringement of the provisions of this article and of article 33 will be punished by a fine of 25 to 250 LS, without prejudice to the action for damages which may be brought.
Art. 36. – In general, the classification proposal, and then the decree issued by the Head of State will fix exactly in each particular case, on the one hand the buildings or parts of buildings to be classified, on the other hand, the legal easements provided for in article 28. The latter will not give rise to the payment of compensation.
Art. 37. – With regard to any damage resulting from the classification for the owners of classified buildings, the State will only compensate individuals or legal persons governed by private law. {] will not compensate the communities for the classification of the monuments of which they are owners, if these monuments of which they are owners, if these monuments are assigned to a public service or to a cult.
Art. 38. – The owners, or holders of real rights, who consider themselves aggrieved as a result of the classification will cause, through the Antiquities Service, the meeting of a committee comprising:
a representative of the Antiquities Department, a representative of the Agricultural or Land Services as the case may be,
a representative of the Ministry of Finance.
This commission will fix, if necessary, the amount of compensation which will represent the current damage directly caused to the owners or holders of real rights by the classification.
If they refuse to accept the commission’s decision, the relevant court will decide on the legitimacy of their claim.
In all cases, the common law remedies will be open against the judgment of the Tribunal?
Art. 39. – The request for the meeting of the commission by the owners must be produced within two months of the notification of the classification decree. [a notification will inform the owner of his possible right to Compensation.
Art. 40. – Mention of the classification will be made in the land register on the sheet of the building.
Art. 41. – The effects of the classification follow the classified building in a few hands passes.
Any alienation of a listed building must within fifteen days of its date be notified to the Antiquities Department by the person who granted it.
Any violation of the provisions of this article will be punished by a fine of 200 LS.
SECTION II
From the Classification of Movable Antiquities.
Art. 42. – Can be classified as historical monument any movable antiquity whose conservation presents from the point of view of history or art a public interest.
The effects of classification apply automatically to the movable object concerned, from the day of notification of the classification proposal to the owner. They cease to apply if the classification decision is not made within six months of this notification.
The ranking effects follow the object in a few hands that it passes. Any individual who alienates a classified object is required to inform the purchaser of the existence of the classification.
The export outside of the States under mandate of a classified movable antiquity is prohibited.
Art. 43. – Listed objects may not be modified, repaired or restored without the authorization or without the supervision of the Antiquities Department.
All infringements of the provisions of this article and of paragraph 2 of article 42 will be punished by a fine of 50 to 4000 LS without prejudice to the action for damages which may be exercised.
Art. 44. – In order to reserve to the State a right of pre-emption, any owner of classified movable antiquities must, if he wishes to alienate them, notify the Minister of Public Instruction and concurrently the Director of the Antiquities Department, by registered letter. These documents will contain the name, capacity and domicile of the purchaser, as well as the sale price of the object. If the State does not intervene within two months of the notification, the owner is authorized to proceed with the sale.
Any alienation of classified movable antiquity made in violation of the provisions of this article is void. Actions for nullity can be brought by the State, At any time; they are exercised without prejudice to claims for damages.
In cases where the State does not exercise its right of pre-emption; the seller must notify by registered letter within eight days of the sale, the names, first names and domicile of the purchaser to the Minister of Public Instruction and to the Director of the Antiquities Department. Failure to notify will be punished with a fine of 50 to 500 LS.
Art. 45. – Any owner or custodian, whoever he may be, of a classified movable antiquity who intends to transport this object from one place to another is required to make a prior declaration to the Antiquities Department.
This declaration must indicate the new building the object is filed as well as the name and domicile of the owner or occupant of this building.
The transfer can only be made after the Antiquities Service has issued a receipt for the declaration: this receipt must be issued within eight days of receipt of the said declaration.
any breach of the provisions of paragraph of this article will be punished by a fine of 25 to 100 LS
SECTION III
Decommissioning of Historic Monuments
Art. 46. – The total or partial downgrading of a listed immovable or movable antiquity is pronounced by a decree of the Head of State issued on the proposal or after opinion of the Director of the Antiquities Department.
The decommissioning decree is notified to the interested parties: if it is a real estate antiquity, a certified copy of the decommissioning decree is notified to the Land Registrar, who makes the necessary deletions or entries on the real sheet of the building. .
SECTION IV
Advertising rules
Art. 47. -— The Director of the Antiquities Service may at any time have the Agents of his service inspect the antiquities classified or listed in the inventory which are in private property.
Any owner who refuses to obey the prescriptions of this article will be punished with a fine of 5 to 200 LS
Art. 48. — Any owner of an antiquity must allow the officers of the Antiquities Service to examine it and give them every facility to draw or photograph it, or in general reproduce it.
These reproductions may not be sold, communicated or published without the permission of the owner.
Any violation of the provisions of this article will be punished with a fine of 1 to 25 LS.
Art. 49, – If an individual or a community, owner of a listed monument, allow the visit of other people than those provided for in the previous article, and receive an entrance fee, this fee will be set by agreement with the direction of the Service des Antiquités.
Art. 50. – The list of real estate and movable antiques entered in the inventory or classified, existing in the vilayet, sandjak or district, will be notified by the care of the Ministry of Public Instruction of the State to the land offices concerned, which must communicate them. the content, Free of charge and without travel, to any person who requests it.
In each caza, a list of the antiquities of the caza entered in the inventory or classified, transmitted by the Ministry of Public Instruction, will be displayed in a visible manner at the headquarters of the local administration.
SECTION V
Financial provisions
Art. 51. – The expenses resulting from the costs of maintaining or consolidating historic monuments belonging to the States will be charged to the budgets of the States, as well as those provided for in article 31 of these regulations; resulting from the participation of the State in the work to be undertaken on your historical monuments which do not belong to it.
The Municipalities also participate in these expenses, under the conditions provided for in article 31.
Expenses resulting from the payment of allowances or costs relating to the execution of the procedure provided for in article 38 of these regulations shall also be charged to the budgets of the States.
The municipalities will participate in these expenses, according to a proportion to be determined: in the case where the interest of the Municipality is paramount. If the classification of the monument is part of the program provided for in the development or extension plan of the city, the expenses provided for in article 38 are charged entirely to the budget of the Municipality, unless the State itself participates at the costs necessary for the execution of the development plan, in which case the expenses in question are shared between the Municipality and the State.
Art. 52. —- The expenses listed in article may possibly be charged to the special appropriations provided for in article 54. The Director of the Antiquities Department will have full discretion in this regard.
Art. 53. – Are recognized in the revenue management account and. expenditure on services of common interest
1 °) The product of the annual tax provided for in article 81 of this decree.
2 °) The product of the special tax for the issuance of exit authorization for antique objects, provided for in article 104 of this decree.
3) damages awarded in court to the Antiques Service.
4 °) subsidies from States, Governments, Municipalities, Wakfs and Communities, etc …, donations and bequests, payments made as individual or collective subscriptions etc … (which will appear as a reminder), for the benefit of the Department of Antiquities of the High Commission.
Art, 54. —- A credit for an amount equal to the above revenue forecasts is opened to the Common Interest Management Account under the heading “Acquisition, classification and maintenance of Antiquities”.
funds will be provided as and when required.
and within the limits of the recoveries made, at the disposal of the Director of the Antiquities Service, in the form of advances which he must justify, in accordance with public accounting regulations.
The credit remaining available at the end of a financial year will always be carried over to the following financial year.
Art, 55. – The Director of the Antiquities Department will be free to use these funds exclusively for the classification and maintenance of antiquities, subject to the authorization that he must request from the General Secretariat of the High Commission for any expenditure exceeding 250 LS and provided that the expenditure is incurred for the benefit of a State or a Government, to the extent that each State or Government has contributed to the revenues enumerated in Article 53.
Acquisitions of movable objects will be entered in the inventory, in accordance with the regulations on public accountancy; Their assignment to one of the National Museums of the States or Governments will be recorded by a free transfer report.
TITLE III
Searches
Art. 56. – The right to carry out archeology, on any ground whatsoever, belongs to the States, represented by the High Commissioner.
No one can therefore carry out archaeological excavations without an authorization granted by the High Commissioner, in accordance with article 14 of the Mandate Declaration.
Art. 57. —— Only applications for authorization submitted on behalf of a learned body, for research of a scientific nature, will be accepted; the person in charge of the work must present sufficient guarantees of archaeological experience.
Art. 58. ——- Requests will be addressed to the High Commissioner. They will contain:
1 °) the name of the learned body requesting authorization
2) the names, first names, position and domicile of the learned archaeologist who will be entrusted with the supervision of the works.
3) the precise indication, with supporting sketches, of the site where the research is carried out and the program – at least summary – of this research.
Art. 59. – The High Commissioner assesses the terms of this request and, if necessary, grants the requesting permission to proceed with the searches. The modalities of this authorization are fixed by a “contract of concession of excavations” concluded between the High Commissioner and the applicant.
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