Big and small thieves
Sir: R.M. Lacy's letter (18 July) says that in the Maxwell case the normal law as regards stolen property does not apply, `so long as the lenders were innocent of knowledge of any fraudulent purpose on the part of Maxwell'. But that, surely, is the whole point? No matter how innocent the buyer of stolen property may be, he must, when found in possession of it, return it. He will not go to jail, if he has truly bought it in ignorance of its provenance. But return it to its rightful owner he must.
To say that boards of directors can ignore this law, because it would otherwise be dif- ficult for commerce to be carried on, is shocking, to put it mildly. It merely means that there is one law for the big thieves and another for the small ones.
Kathleen Page
Les Sounies, Veyrines-de-Dom me, Prance
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