The Institute of Art & Law

The IAL will once again be offering a short course on museum deaccession for museum practitioners and other professionals, to run online on the afternoon of 29th November 2023. The course will cover the major legal and ethical issues that need to be considered in this challenging area, including new changes to charity law in […]

We are pleased to announce our next Study Forum, which will be a virtual event, on 2nd December 2023. Like our earlier study forums, this will provide an opportunity to hear about some of the fascinating issues and recent developments in the art and cultural heritage law field. Topics and speakers will include: ‘Intangible cultural […]

After many years of a persisting stalemate over the Parthenon Marbles, change may be in the air. Join us at Fladgate LLP in London on 7th December for a discussion of IAL Director Alexander Herman’s new book, The Parthenon Marbles Dispute: Heritage, Law, Politics. The book features an investigation of the causes of the longstanding conflict […]

This unique Masters in Law Programme (LLM) is offered in partnership between the Institute of Art and Law and the Centre for Commercial Law Studies (CCLS) at Queen Mary University of London. The programme covers every major legal area affecting the art market and arts management and is ideal for practitioners in this field. The […]

A few weeks ago, the UK’s cultural industry organisations presented evidence to Parliament regarding the challenges faced by creators and performers in receiving fair compensation and, most importantly, the relevance of the Smart Fund. The initiative seeks to ensure fair remuneration to creators for the access, distribution and storage of their work on digital devices. […]

Two weeks ago, the Institute of Art and Law and Wedlake Bell jointly hosted the seminar “Art Law Unveiled: Navigating Modern and Contemporary Art Transactions”. Legal issues surrounding this area were addressed, providing a high-level forum for discussing practical issues, such as art contracts, artists’ representation, the authentication of artworks and the role of collective […]

The Paris Bar in Berlin’s Kantstraße is a traditional meeting place for the arts and culture scene of the German capital and a true institution. Three paintings depicting this very bar have now become the subject of an interesting copyright decision by the Munich Regional Court. Specifically, it concerns the works “Paris Bar (Version 1-3)” […]

We also offer both digital-only and digital + hardcopy subscription options in partnership with Hein. Art Antiquity and Law is a Quarterly designed for all who value the cultural and historical environment. The principal aim of the Quarterly is to inform. It exists to tell those who work in the art and antiquity world about the law governing their […]

This second edition of Lyndel Prott’s Commentary on the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects provides not only an article-by-article analysis of the Convention, but also takes account of the many positive developments in the practices of museums and States regarding re-evaluation of the status of objects in collections and, in some cases, return of those objects to their countries of origin. The Convention’s influence can be seen in the text of the 2014 EU Directive on the return of cultural objects unlawfully removed from the territory of a Member State, which, in its introductory paragraphs, calls on Member States of the European Union to consider ratification of both the 1970 UNESCO Convention and the 1995 UNIDROIT Convention.

More recently, in France, the 2018 Report by Felwine Sarr and Bénédicte Savoy on the restitution of African heritage described the Convention as “the only legal instrument with the potential to redress the imbalance [between European ‘holding’ States and claimant States]” the ratification of which would “confirm the sustainability of returns”.

ISBN: 978-1-903987-43-8, paperback

Publication date: 6 April 2021

Edited by Ruth Redmond-Cooper Published: January 2021. Hardback 338 Pages ++ Paperback ISBN I978-1-903987-41-4 Hardback ISBN I978-1-903987-42-1 This book was launched on 27 January 2021, see here. In January 2021, the Institute of Art and Law published the second edition of Norman Palmer’s classic work, Museums and the Holocaust. In the twenty years since the […]