The Virginia Supreme Court ruled Friday that a 1776 copy of the Declaration of Independence belongs to a Fairfax County collector who paid $500,000 for it, rather than to the state of Maine, according to The Washington Post.
The copy was one of 200 to 300 printed in Salem, Mass., and distributed to towns across Massachusetts, which then included what is now Maine. Internet tycoon Richard Adams Jr., an Oakton, Va., resident, purchased it in 2002, the Post reported.
Maine government officials claimed the town of Wiscasset owns the document, and was improperly removed from the town after it was copied into the town's record books, according to the Post.
The Virginia Supreme Court ruled that a 1973 Maine law regarding public records did not apply because it was not retroactive, the Post reported.
-CLINT RICE
