Britain definitely has the best claim. They were given it in a treaty almost 200 years ago, and are currently in possession of it.

Imagine a thief comes to your house with a gun & a treaty paper. He gives you two options -

1) sign the treaty paper where I leave you harmless but take away all your wealth 2) kill you and your family and take away all your wealth

Which option would you choose?

Your heir 200 years later would stop their claim on it ? Fair deal?

You've just described thousands of years of history.

Maybe it should be returned to mother earth, that way there would be no violence in the chain of ownership.

unironically. yes. we should throw it into the ocean.

it’s more fair than the current situation and there seem to be no other plans to rectify the situation in the near future either.

Almost every treaty in history was signed with an implicit or explicit threat of violence (some economic, many physical).

Every piece of land that every country owns was taken at the point of the sword at one point or another.

And to answer your question no I don't think I have any right to the wealth of the great great great great grandchild of the thief. Courts would also share my view.

Yes, nobody has the claim including Britain. There's no such thing as better claim. This discussion started because people could not reach a consensus on who has the best claim. Saying that Britain has the best claim is going around in circles.

I think we are on the same page. Instead of pointing out to Britain that you must return it, one should grab it.

The question of "what exactly is ownership?" is an interesting one... every single patch of land has a long and bloody history, and if land ownership includes mining rights? Then this carries over to all objects.

I guess you and GP are in agreement. Whoever steals it, owns it.