§ 54-7-610 Short title
§ 54-7-620 Definitions
§ 54-7-630 Title to all submerged paleontological and submerged archaeological historic property, artifacts; conveyable to licensee
§ 54-7-640 Custodians of submerged archaeological historic property and artifacts, submerged paleontological material, and other things of value
§ 54-7-650 Licenses to conduct activities affecting submerged archaeological historic or paleontological properties; recovered property
§ 54-7-660 No license required for non-disturbing inspection and study
§ 54-7-670 Hobby licenses; hobby divers, reports; restrictions
§ 54-7-690 Intensive survey and data recovery licenses; waiver; applications
§ 54-7-700 Excavation or disturbance of submerged archaeological historic and submerged paleontological property; exclusive license
§ 54-7-710 Criteria for determining whether to issue exclusive license; public hearing optional
§ 54-7-720 Exclusive license; delayed issuance or denial ; reconsideration
§ 54-7-730 Provisions that must be shown on license issued by institute
§ 54-7-740 Additional provisions applicable to licenses issued by State Archaeologist
§ 54-7-750 Additional provisions pertaining to intensive survey licenses
§ 54-7-760 Additional provisions pertaining to data recovery licenses
§ 54-7-770 Modification of licenses; property disposition agreements
§ 54-7-785 Finder of wreck other than licensed salvor; share of recovery
§ 54-7-790 License not required of institute or of museum
§ 54-7-800 License; suspension, revocation, or restoration; grounds for revocation; notice and hearing; appropriation of data and artifacts recovered as result of violation
§ 54-7-810 Penalties
§ 54-7-815 Excavation or salvage of certain sunken warships unlawful
§ 54-7-820 Retention and confidentiality of data; exemption from liability; discovery of human remains or grave sites; issuance of licenses and administration of article; waivers and variances
§ 54-7-830 Privately-owned land not subject to Article
§ 54-7-840 Educational program; underwater archaeologist on staff of institute
§ 54-7-850 Retention and use of license fees

Terms Used In South Carolina Code > Title 54 > Chapter 7 > Article 5 - The South Carolina Underwater Antiquities Act of 1991

  • Answer: The formal written statement by a defendant responding to a civil complaint and setting forth the grounds for defense.
  • Appraisal: A determination of property value.
  • Artifact recovery: means the recovery of artifactual material by hand or through excavation. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • artifactual material: means any object or assemblage of objects found in an archaeological context which yields or is likely to yield information of significance to the scientific study of human prehistory, history, or culture, and which have remained unclaimed for more than fifty years. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
  • Beneath or substantially beneath: means permanently or periodically covered, in whole or in part, by the territorial waters of the State. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Beneficiary: A person who is entitled to receive the benefits or proceeds of a will, trust, insurance policy, retirement plan, annuity, or other contract. Source: OCC
  • Bequeath: To gift property by will.
  • Commercial applicant: means an applicant for a license under this article for purposes other than those of a noncommercial applicant, such as commercial salvage or income-producing purposes. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
  • Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
  • Data: means any information related to the site of submerged archaeological historic property or submerged paleontological property which includes, without limitation, artifactual and/or paleontological material, remote sensing survey charts, magnetic tape records of positions, site maps, feature plans, photographs, measurements, and historical documentation. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Data collection: includes the collection of artifactual and/or paleontological material that is exposed or resting on, but not embedded in, submerged lands. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Data recovery: means a systematic study carried out in accordance with a research plan which may include data collection, excavation, and artifact or fossil recovery. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Day: means a twenty-four hour period beginning at 12:00 midnight. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Debris field: means the area in which artifactual or paleontological materials associated with a site are found. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Decedent: A deceased person.
  • Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
  • Devise: To gift property by will.
  • Director: means the Director of the Institute or a designee of the director. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Embedded: means firmly affixed in submerged lands such that the use of tools of excavation are required in order to move the bottom sediments to gain access to the submerged archaeological historic property or paleontological materials or any part of them. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Excavation: means the process of moving, removing, or disturbing bottom sediments to expose submerged archaeological historic property or submerged paleontological materials. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Executor: A male person named in a will to carry out the decedent
  • Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
  • Fee simple: Absolute title to property with no limitations or restrictions regarding the person who may inherit it.
  • Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
  • Field archaeologist: means a professional archaeologist selected by the licensee and approved by the institute to supervise operations under a license. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Field paleontologist: means a paleontologist selected by the licensee and approved by the museum to supervise operations under a license. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
  • Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. Source: OCC
  • fossil recovery: means the recovery of paleontological materials by hand or through excavation. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Freedom of Information Act: A federal law that mandates that all the records created and kept by federal agencies in the executive branch of government must be open for public inspection and copying. The only exceptions are those records that fall into one of nine exempted categories listed in the statute. Source: OCC
  • Gift: A voluntary transfer or conveyance of property without consideration, or for less than full and adequate consideration based on fair market value.
  • Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
  • Historic property: means a district, site, building, structure, or object significant in the prehistory, history, upland and underwater archaeology, architecture, engineering, and culture of the State, including artifacts, records, and remains related to the district, site, building, structure, or object. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Immediate environment: means that area surrounding a submerged archaeological historic property or submerged paleontological site which, if disturbed, could result in substantive injury to the property, including, without limitation, the debris field. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Indemnification: In general, a collateral contract or assurance under which one person agrees to secure another person against either anticipated financial losses or potential adverse legal consequences. Source: FDIC
  • Institute: means the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Intensive survey: means a field and archival investigation of an area designed to gather and identify fully information about submerged archaeological historic properties sufficient to evaluate them in relation to National Register criteria of significance within specific historical contexts. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Interest rate: The amount paid by a borrower to a lender in exchange for the use of the lender's money for a certain period of time. Interest is paid on loans or on debt instruments, such as notes or bonds, either at regular intervals or as part of a lump sum payment when the issue matures. Source: OCC
  • Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
  • Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
  • Liabilities: The aggregate of all debts and other legal obligations of a particular person or legal entity.
  • Licensee: means any person or entity authorized to perform certain recovery operations from a submerged archaeological historic property or submerged paleontological property under the provisions of this article by the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
  • Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
  • Monitoring archaeologist: means an underwater archaeologist selected by the institute for the purpose of monitoring work activity under a license issued by the institute. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Monitoring paleontologist: means a paleontologist or Natural History Curator selected by the museum commission for the purpose of monitoring work activity under a license issued by the institute. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
  • National Register: means the National Register of Historic Places maintained by the Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Navigable waters: means all waters belonging to the State which are navigable in fact or were navigable in the past. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Noncommercial applicant: means a person seeking a license for the purpose of gathering scientific, historical, or architectural data for either:

    (a) public exhibition, interpretation, or preservation and not for the purpose of producing income, profit, or gain; or

    (b) mitigation of adverse effects of a proposed undertaking on submerged archaeological historic property or submerged paleontological property. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Object: means a material thing produced or resulting from human activity which has functional, aesthetic, cultural, historical, or scientific value and which includes artifactual material. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
  • Paleontological property: means paleontological material or any site which contains paleontological material. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
  • Person: means an individual, partnership, corporation, association, organized group of persons, or any other legal entity. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Personal property: All property that is not real property.
  • Preservation: means the identification, evaluation, recordation, documentation, curation, acquisition, protection, management, rehabilitation, restoration, stabilization, maintenance, and reconstruction of a submerged archaeological historic property or a submerged paleontological property. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Primary scientific value: means any submerged archaeological historic property or submerged paleontological property which:

    (a) yields or may yield information of great importance or significance to state, regional, national or international history or prehistory. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Probate: Proving a will
  • Prosecute: To charge someone with a crime. A prosecutor tries a criminal case on behalf of the government.
  • Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
  • Reconnaissance survey: means a limited archival and field investigation, designed and accomplished in sufficient detail to make generalizations about the type, distribution, and value of an area's submerged archaeological historic properties or submerged paleontological sites, which may include data collection but may not include excavation, data recovery, or artifact recovery. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
  • Site: means :

    (a) the location of an event, a prehistoric or historic occupation or activity, or a building or structure including a shipwreck, whether standing, ruined, or vanished, and its debris field where the location itself maintains historical or archaeological value regardless of the value of any existing structure;

    (b) the location of an accumulation of paleontological material where the location itself maintains paleontological value. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • State: means the State of South Carolina. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • State Museum: means the South Carolina Museum Commission authorized by this article as custodians of paleontological materials. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • State Underwater Archaeologist: means a person appointed by the Director of the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology who administers this article. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
  • Statute of limitations: A law that sets the time within which parties must take action to enforce their rights.
  • Structure: means a constructed work made up of interdependent and interrelated parts in a definite pattern of organization. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Submerged: means beneath or substantially beneath the territorial waters of the State or submerged at mean low tide. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Submerged archaeological historic property: means any site, vessel, structure, object, or remains which:

    (a) yields or is likely to yield information of significance to scientific study of human prehistory, history, or culture; and

    (b)(i) is embedded in or on submerged lands and has remained unclaimed for fifty years or longer; or

    (ii) is included in, or has been determined, or may be eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Submerged lands: means lands beneath or substantially beneath the territorial waters of the State or which are submerged at mean low tide. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Submerged paleontological property: means any object or assemblage of objects found in a paleontological context which yield or are likely to yield information of significance to the scientific study or educational potential of the past faunal diversity, past environments, geologic time, or other paleontological concerns. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Substantive injury: means any action or influence which causes a change in the archaeological or paleontological context, the structural integrity, or the physical condition of a site as to render it more vulnerable to loss, damage, destruction, or diminution of historic or paleontological value. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Summons: Another word for subpoena used by the criminal justice system.
  • Territorial waters: means the navigable waters of the State, namely, all tidal waters within the boundaries of the State up to, but not above, the line of mean low tide and seaward to a line three geographical miles distant from the coastline of the State measured by reference to mean low tide elevation as defined in the Geneva Convention, Article 11, and such other waters of the State as may be included within the term "lands beneath navigable waters" as defined in the Federal Abandoned Shipwreck Act of 1987. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620
  • Tort: A civil wrong or breach of a duty to another person, as outlined by law. A very common tort is negligent operation of a motor vehicle that results in property damage and personal injury in an automobile accident.
  • Trustee: A person or institution holding and administering property in trust.
  • Undertaking: means an activity by the institute or South Carolina Museum Commission that would otherwise require a license under this article. See South Carolina Code 54-7-620