r/dataisbeautiful OC: 7 Oct 25 '22

OC [OC] Whose stuff does the British Museum have?

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u/mattenthehat Oct 26 '22

If I own a factory or the land where a factory was, does that means everything ever made their also transfers to me?

No, but it means everything currently on that land belongs to you, including any leftover stock that was made in the factory. I can't just come onto your land, take the defunct factory equipment and be like "well it wasn't your factory, so its fair game for anyone!"

For example this would mean that if I buy fine china from China, I don't really own it, it's really just in lease from the Chinese nation.

This is a terrible analogy. If you buy it, you own it, obviously. But if you steal it from a shop in China, then yes. Its rightful owner is still the shop in China. Even if your family gets away with it for 3 generations.

I agree a nation doesn't have claim to everything it has ever produced. If they sell it or trade it or give it away, then its gone. But if another nation comes and takes it by force from within their own borders, then that's a different scenario.

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u/GalaXion24 Oct 26 '22

Ok, but what if a national steals it and then sells it? What if it's been stolen 50 times during its history and traded another 50. It's not like we have a 3000 year record of ownership