England is England. They are a sovereign nation, and thereby can make their own laws. They do. They even talk funny, and there's nothing we can do about that either.
All other countries make their own laws too. We may not like them, but we don't get to change them like we do here in America. Russia, Ethiopia, Iran, Libya, Germany, India, China, Vietnam, Latvia and on and on; all
very different. Governments are really a function of the peoples in them, for better or worse.
England is much more populated than we are and so the laws reflect that.
Here's a UK detector forum, much like (but of course not as good as) TNet.
Metal Detecting - The Complete Guide For Beginners in 2020
Here's an article in the Guardian, a well known UK paper:
https://www.theguardian.com/science...truce-between-detectorists-and-archaeologists
"the UK has the lightest regulation of metal detecting of any western European country; (emphasis mine) in most cases, only the permission of the land owner is required – but in other countries and other contexts, what is perfectly legal in the UK would be considered as looting.
Cooperation and engagement has now been the accepted position of the archaeological community towards metal detecting in the UK for over twenty years, paving the way for the 1996 Treasure Act and the Portable Antiquities Scheme, which records detector finds across the country and makes the data available to researchers. Many metal detecting clubs enjoy close and mutually beneficial relationships with their local archaeology units, sharing information and sometimes working together in the field. "
This is still an uneasy truce, but it is a truce.
Furthermore, in my opinion, British archaeologists are far more "progressive" than the American version. They use mechanized methods at times, they work with detectorists, they pioneered drones, remote sensing, and are much more open minded and a
lot less dogmatic than ours. I've met and worked with both.
The Staffordshire Hoard: On 25 November 2009, the hoard was valued by the
Treasure Valuation Committee at
£3.285 million, which, under the provisions of the
1996 Treasure Act, is the sum that must be paid as a reward to the finder and landowner, to be shared equally, by any museum that wishes to acquire the hoard.
I suppose you could carp about only getting half of $4.3 million, and I guess that's your right. As a matter of fact, Terry Herbert, the finder of the hoard, and Fred Johnson, the farmer on whose land the hoard was found have lost their friendship over their good fortune. I don't know if they complain about "only" getting $2.15 million apiece, but I couldn't find that. Terry was unemployed when he found the hoard, and Fred lived in an old house and drove an old tractor.
Such is the human condition.
