According to the mayor of the Belgian town of Erquelines, David Lavaux, the bold proprietor had underestimated the implications of pushing the historic marker back two metres and 20 centimetres .
The frontier was enshrined in law in 1820 under the Treaty of Kortrijk and remained in the same place after Belgium became an independent kingdom in 1830 – at least until the Erquelines landowner’s recent ploy.War is not imminent, however.