June 12 , 1912 - Law No. 14
for archeology
We are the Khedive of Egypt
Based on what was presented to us by the overseer of public works and the approval of the opinion of the council of overseers;
And after taking the opinion of the Council of Laws;
We ordered what is to come
general provisions
Article 1Every antiquity in all parts of the Egyptian country that is on the surface of the earth or in its interior is the property of the general government, except for what is excluded under this law .
Article 2- It is considered an impact of all that art, sciences, literature, religions, morals and crafts have brought about in the Egyptian country during the era of the Pharaohs, the kings of Greece and the Romans of the western and eastern states, and Coptic monuments as pagan temples, and what is abandoned and unused from churches, large or small, monasteries, forts, city walls, houses, baths, Nile gauges, built wells and cisterns. Roads, archaeological quarries, obelisks, pyramids, terraces, tombs built or excavated in the mountain, visible or not, inscriptions and coffins of any ornate material, whether or not decorated, mummy covers made of cardboard, human and animal mummies, photographs and artificial faces of mummies, colored or gilded, tombstones and sarcophagi And statues, large or small, whether they had writing on them or not, inscriptions on rocks, painted porches, copies written on parchment, cloth, or papyrus, and wrought iron (i.e. flint), weapons, tools, bowls, utensils, glass, small boxes, and sacrificial tools.Fabrics of clothing, clothing, ornaments, rings, ornaments, scarabs, amulets of any shape and any material, weights, ancient currency, coins, molds, and hewn stones..
Article 3The remains of walls and houses, whether made of stone, bricks (red bricks) or mud (raw bricks), blocks of stone and red bricks scattered on the surface of the earth, bevels of stone, glass, wood, roofs, sand, reddish, and marshes found on the face of the princely lands that the government decides are antiquities are also considered among the antiquities. or inwardly .
Article 4With the foregoing , it is permissible to trade in antiquities that belong to the discoverer based on Article Eleven of this Law or on the conditions of an excavation license based on Article Twelve. It is also legal to trade in antiquities belonging to groups acquired by some individuals in good faith..
Article 5Movable antiquities that are fixed on the ground or that are difficult to move are considered, according to the provisions of this law , as immovable antiquities .
Article 6The lands of the government that are determined or will be determined to be antiquities are all public property of the government .
Article 7It is also considered the property of the general government, all the preserved antiquities, which will be preserved in its museums .
real estate monuments
Article 8The government may, whenever it wants, transfer any real estate that is owned by a person or keep it in its place and expropriate the land that is on its surface or under it in accordance with the expropriation laws in force now for the public interest. Until there are traces on the earth, nor to the amount of what those traces are worth, whether they are on the surface of the earth or in its interior .
However, the compensation estimated in this way is increased by an amount of 10% of it.
In the event that the government wants to transfer the antiquity, it is not obliged to pay to the owner of the land except a compensation equivalent to ten percent of the real value of the part occupied by the antiquity..
Article 9- Every discoverer of a real estate antiquity, and every owner, tenant, or anyone who possesses a land in which a real estate antiquity appears, must report it immediately, either to the administrative authority closest to him, or to the Antiquities Authority men in those areas, and this interest is taken within six weeks from the date of notification. Measures are required to preserve it, and investigations are initiated to determine its nature and to return the thing to its original condition upon the expiration of that period. .
transmitted effects
Article 10Whoever finds a movable antiquity on or within the territory of the Egyptian country, he must (if he does not have a duly issued license to dig) report this to the administrative authority closest to him and deliver the discovered antiquity to it or to the men of the Antiquities Authority with the necessary receipt, within a period of time . six days .
Article 11Whoever discovers a movable antiquity , not by excavation is not permissible, and does what is required by the provisions of the previous article, he shall be given half of the discovered objects or half their value as a penalty for him. Choosing one of them, and as for the things that you take, each of the two parties determines the value he estimates for them. .
Article 12It is not permissible for any person to make probes, excavations, or sweep the earth to search for antiquities, even if the land is his property, unless he has a license to do so issued to him by the Public Works Department at the request of the Director General of the Antiquities Authority, in which the authority to excavate is indicated and the duration of this license. In force, the licensee shall be given a part of the discovered antiquities or the value of that part, in accordance with the text of the previous article .
These probes, or excavations, or sweeping the earth are not considered as works intended to search for antiquities, if the one who conducted them did not think that that land contained antiquities.
selling antiquities
Article 13Every antiquities dealer must have a trading license , and the Antiquities Authority alone has the option to give it or refuse it. .
Bringing antiquities to other countries
Article 14- It is forbidden to take antiquities from the Egyptian country to other countries unless this is done with a special license that the interest of historical antiquities alone can give or reject, provided that every antiquity that some people try to take out of the country without a license is seized and confiscated by the government .
Article 15- The Antiquities Authority may authorize the taking of the bog from the shops in which the bog is located under the conditions it determines. As for the antiquities found during its excavation, they must be reported and handed over immediately to the guards entrusted with his observation. .
Penalties
Article 16Shall be punished by imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year and a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds, or by one of these two penalties only :
First: Whoever moves, overturns, demolishes or distorts real estate antiquities in any way whatsoever
Second: Whoever seizes, without a special license from the government, rubble resulting from a real estate antiquity that has been completely or partially demolished.
Third: Whoever uses underground cemeteries, quarries, temples, and in general archaeological sites or their remains, as dwellings, animal pens, stores, tombs, or cemeteries..
This does not preclude a ruling against the person responsible for compensation for the damage he has caused.
Article 17He shall be punished with the previous penalties
First: Whoever violates the provisions of Articles Nine, Ten, and Twelfth of this Law.
Second: Whoever sells antiquities or offers them for sale, unless it is in accordance with the conditions set forth in Articles Fourteen and Thirteen.
Article 18Shall be punished by imprisonment for a period not exceeding one week and a fine not exceeding one pound, or by one of these two penalties only . :
First: Whoever extracts marsh from a place from which extraction is prohibited, or the extraction is contrary to what is required by law, as well as anyone who contravenes the provisions of Article 15.
Second - Whoever writes names or draws something on the walls of real estate monuments.
Article 19- Every movable antiquity may be seized and confiscated to the government if it resulted in a violation of the provisions of this law .
Miscellaneous provisions
Article 20He is considered one of the judicial officers in relation to the work that they are entrusted with the trustees, inspectors and second inspectors of the Antiquities Authority and whoever takes their place from the authority's officials .
Article 21The high orders contained in the annex to this law for persons to whom the said law applies shall be cancelled .
Article 22On the lookout for public works ( 1 ) Al-Haqqiyya is the implementation of this command of ours, each of them in its own right, and it shall be enforced from the first of July in the year 1912.
Appendix
A high order issued on May 16, 1883, deeming the Bulaq Museum, etc., to be the property of the general government.
A high order issued on November 17, 1891, concerned with the conditions under which drilling licenses are given.
A high order issued on August 1, 1892, appointing trustees, inspectors and secondary inspectors at the Antiquities Authority from among the judicial police officers..
A high order issued on August 12, 1897, regarding the protection of antiquities.
A high order issued on March 12, 1900, appointing trustworthy inspectors, inspectors and secondary inspectors at the Antiquities Authority from among the judicial police officers..
(1) The Egyptian Antiquities Authority attached to the Ministry of Education a decree of April 4, 1929 published under the word “Ministries”, and thus the Minister of Education became the one responsible for implementing this law.
