Joe Steel
DP Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 30, 2007
- Messages
- 3,054
- Reaction score
- 560
- Location
- St. Louis, Missouri, USA
- Gender
- Undisclosed
- Political Leaning
- Very Liberal
... I do not agree that a U.S. court should address land title claims made "legal" by a long dead king of England. England may have "stolen" the land but the U.S. then took that land from England. Would you advocate refunding the taxes paid on that land and awarding the current land holder compensation for any improvements made to that land over the last 300+ years?
The current owner of the land may have a clear title to it and hold it lawfully. That's not the issue. This is a question of morality. Is their possession of the land just. Someone took the land from its rightful owner, native Americans, and profited from it. Presumably the benefit of that seizure has been passed along to all subsequent holders. Taking the land or a portion of its value is no more unjust than making the possessor of stolen personal property return it to its rightful owner.