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Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

bbc.co.uk

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Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#71

Post by thaeli »

leokennis wrote: post #64
Bayart wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're stored in law. Treaties define borders in (seemingly) unambiguous terms. Meridians, river beds and so. Problems arise when river beds move and everything becomes extremely ambiguous. In the worst case scenario you've got borders defined by older borders of poorly documented feudal holdings and it's up in the wind where the actual border ought to be. So states have to negotiate to redefine them in modern terms…

Ok…but I’d assume those are pretty hefty law books then? “Follow river such and so, then on that one field of farmer Jones turn left until the tree, turn right and walk in a straight line to that pointy rock, then walk back to the river etc. etc.”?

Yes, this is pretty much what actual "metes and bounds" deeds from several centuries ago look like.

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#73

Post by mnw21cam »

mschuster91 wrote: post #13
aetherspawn wrote: post #7

A neighbor once moved the pegs marking our block a few meters so that he could move (and claim) the neutral strip. The most irritating thing, is that he more or less got away with it because he was old and persistent. In fact, he gradually built infrastructure on it, despite hundreds of complaints to the local council and authorities. In the end the council couldn't come up with a good way to settle the dispute, so t…

> In the end the council couldn't come up with a good way to settle the dispute, so they offered to auction the neutral strip and its contents between us to the highest bidder. Here in Germany, he would be issued a demolition order by the court that, in case of non-compliance, will be enforced even with armed police if deemed necessary. On top of that the affected party can sue him for damages.

In a lot of cases, the affected party is the local council (government) which often doesn't care (or doesn't have enough free time to care).

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#74

Post by cinntaile »

smnrchrds wrote: post #45
ad404b8a372f2b9 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aaah I was going to post that :D! It stars one of my favorite comedic actors, Benoît Poelvoorde who is belgian. I'd encourage anyone with a taste for foreign films to check out "C'est arrivé près de chez vous" (Man Bites Dog in english) another great movie of his (features lots of violence and serious themes, not a family movie).

> Benoît Poelvoorde It looks like a very French first name and a very Dutch last name. Is that common in Belgium? Is there a significant overlap between the linguistic communities of Belgium?

It depends on what you mean. There is no significant linguistic overlap. There are some exceptions such as if you live near the language border. But last names ending up in the other side of the country is not that uncommon, people move around and some end up getting kids there.

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#75

Post by gillesjacobs »

smnrchrds wrote: post #45
ad404b8a372f2b9 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aaah I was going to post that :D! It stars one of my favorite comedic actors, Benoît Poelvoorde who is belgian. I'd encourage anyone with a taste for foreign films to check out "C'est arrivé près de chez vous" (Man Bites Dog in english) another great movie of his (features lots of violence and serious themes, not a family movie).

> Benoît Poelvoorde It looks like a very French first name and a very Dutch last name. Is that common in Belgium? Is there a significant overlap between the linguistic communities of Belgium?

There's a significant overlap in naming and there's a lot of professional language contact. But culturally and politically, the linguistic communities are divided.

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#76

Post by gillesjacobs »

csunbird wrote: post #21

> A local history enthusiast was walking in the forest when he noticed the stone marking the boundary between the two countries had moved 2.29m (7.5ft). How do you even measure that effectively? Aren’t the stones more than hundreds of meters away from each other? edit: for example, can I do that as well with minimal equipment (e.g. with just a phone)?

From experience with living near The Three-Border Region (Drielandenpunt) on the Belgian-German-Dutch border these marking stones are fairly frequent, every hundred meters in the woods.

I always figured they were mostly symbolic. At least I hope, because the local loggers have moved Germany about 30 meters into Luxemburg by uprooting a stone.

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#78

Post by capableweb »

csunbird wrote: post #21

> A local history enthusiast was walking in the forest when he noticed the stone marking the boundary between the two countries had moved 2.29m (7.5ft). How do you even measure that effectively? Aren’t the stones more than hundreds of meters away from each other? edit: for example, can I do that as well with minimal equipment (e.g. with just a phone)?

Where I was brought up, I was taught how to estimate/measure meters in steps when in school, so everyone had a specific gait that measures a meter. 100 of those steps ~= 100 meters. No phone needed :)

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#79

Post by elliekelly »

gumby wrote: post #52
317070 wrote: post #14

This is so ironic. There is already a movie (Rien a Declarer / Nothing to declare) whose main premise is a guy spending his nights slightly moving the border between France and Belgium: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6MljTh0kws (This extract is French only unfortunately :( ) Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piQPaxlZWu4 (With English subtitles) But, as someone who grew up less than 100 meters from this borde…

I have a friend who grew up in France (well, except for her kitchen which was in Belgium); she went to school in Belgium, crossing the border (which in those days had a gate) twice each day. I just imagine the guards opening the gate for a little girl with a school satchel. The bollards which held the gate are still there.

Have you considered moving them a few meters into France? Maybe your friend can squeeze in a Belgian living room, too.

Re: Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border

#80

Post by cr1895 »

wincy wrote: post #54

Wow, as a US citizen looking at the France/Belgium border [0] I can’t imagine what it’d be like for a disagreement with your next door neighbor to become an international incident. I suppose it’s probably just no big deal. [0] https://goo.gl/maps/cPbAY3DxQNhUy2SZ9

Oh, that’s nothing! Look up Baarle-Hertog and Baarle-Nassau on the Belgian-Dutch border.

During the beginning of the pandemic, it brought about some truly bizarre situations: https://www.thebulletin.be/coronavirus-store-dutch-border-ha...

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