Who owns the Declaration of Independence? This case got started back in July of 1776 when the Russell Printing Company in Salem Massachusetts was ordered to print several hundred copies of the Declaration of Independence to be distributed to churches so they could be read to the public. The copies were known as “broadsides,” and after they were read, they ended up in a variety of places, mostly town clerks’ offices. This particular broadside ended up in the estate of a descendant of the Town Clerk of what used to be Pownalborough, Massachusetts, and is now Wiscasset, Maine. After it was recently purchased at auction by Russell Adams of Virginia for $477,000, the state of Maine sued, arguing it’s a public document and should remain in public ownership. But the Court said that common law provides that possession of property constitutes prima facie evidence of ownership until a better title is proven. It was printed by a private printer and could go into private hands. So the Virginia Supreme Court fired a broadside at the state of Maine, and it’s fitting that the Declaration of Independence will remain independent.

THIS IS NEIL CHAYET LOOKING AT THE LAW™

Maine v. Adams, No. 080987, slip op. (Va. Sup. Ct. Feb. 27, 2009).

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