Antiquities Law – 1978 The Antiquities Law is the basis for the enforcement activities by the Israel Antiquities Authority. The law defines ancient sites and antiquities. According to the Law, development of any work at a declared antiquities site can be carried out only according to conditions laid down by the Director of the Authority. The Director has the authority to halt development work, even at an non-declared antiquities site, if antiquities are being damaged as a result of the work.

Israel Antiquities Authority Law
Until 1989 the Antiquities Department in the Ministry of Education was in charge of archaeology in the public domain. Following the legislation of the Antiquities Authority law, a governmental authority was founded in April 1, 1990. The founder and first Director, the late General (res.) Amir Drori, dramatically expanded the organization and turned it into a body with broad national deployment and substantial enforcement capabilities.

List of Antiquities Sites
The list of antiquities sites is published in the collection of publications of the State of Israel, put out by the Ministry of Justice. The publication of the sites gives them a legal status and enables the Israel Antiquities Authority to enforce the law within their area. The first such list was published in 1964. Thirteen amendments to this list, including some several hundred sites, had been published until the establishment of the Israel Antiquities Authority. Since the founding of the Authority, about 70 amendments have been published; listing approximately 30,000 recognized sites, a scope unprecedented anywhere in the world. When planning any development project it is of the utmost importance to examine the antiquities sites professionally and in detail, within the development areas. 

Appeals Committee
The Antiquities Law states that an Appeals Committee must be established to handle appeals concerning the Antiquities Law. The committee is headed by a lawyer and the procedure is semi judicial. The law defines the method and timetable for the submission of an appeal.

Regulations
In addition to the Antiquities Law, a series of regulations were subsequently issued, constituting by-laws. The most significant regulations for the public are the fee regulations (2001), stating that a set fee must be paid for every square meter of excavation, in order to obtain a development permit within an antiquities site.  

Important Decisions and Legal PrecedentsSince the Antiquities Law and accompanying regulations were sometimes not worded clearly, and since the Israel Antiquities Authority staff occasionally misinterpreted the law, the courts have had to address various issues related to the Antiquities Law and the Authority's policy. The most famous ruling was given by Supreme Court Justice Zamir in petition 4145/95: "The Antiquities Law can be interpreted, and in my opinion should be interpreted, in a way which requires the Antiquities Authority to check if an area contains antiquities within a reasonable amount of time from the request; it should fund the examination and excavation in the field, rather than the owners." The judge added: "It is naïve and unrealistic to perceive the relations between the Authority and the developers as a purely contractual relationship.  The real relations are imposed ones, because it is clear that the contract is not drawn up because the owners are interested in discovering if the site they own contains antiquities, but because otherwise they would be forbidden to build or make any other use of their property."