Tag Archives: heritage

Court decision on Caillebotte export rocks the boat

Posted on: September 4, 2018 by Alexander Herman

A once-in-a-generation case has caused major ripples in the Canadian museum world. And we’re not talking about the attempted sale of a Chagall by the National Gallery of Canada this spring. No, this was an actual court case, before the Federal Court of Canada, to determine whether the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board (the […]

Changes on the way for Japan’s cultural property law

Posted on: July 19, 2018 by Makoto Shimada

On 1st June 2018, the Kokkai, the National Diet of Japan, enacted the Substantial Amendment to the Law for the Protection of Cultural Property. The new Act will come into force on 1st April 2019. Under the 1950 Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties, cultural property with historical or artistic value is selected by the government […]

NGC reneges on plan to sell Chagall

Posted on: April 27, 2018 by Alexander Herman

The National Gallery of Canada, as reported earlier, had plans to sell one of its two major works by Marc Chagall, La Tour Eiffel, at auction at Christies in New York on 15 May, with an estimate of $6 million to $ 9 million. This led to much uproar in the Canadian press and amongst the […]

New project to study Unidroit Convention on return of cultural objects

Posted on: October 30, 2017 by Amoury Groenen

On 27 October 2017, the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law – hereinafter Unidroit – officially launched the 1995 Unidroit Convention Academic Project (UCAP). The project – which was first announced during a special event on “Promoting and Strengthening the international legal framework for the protection of cultural heritage” held on 28 February […]

Pontormo portrait now stuck in export limbo

Posted on: February 20, 2017 by Alexander Herman

A 16th century painting by Jacopo Pontormo, Portrait of a Young Man in a Red Cap, which had been subject to an export deferral beginning in December 2015, is now stuck in cultural export limbo. This is because the owner of the portrait, American billionaire J. T. Hill, has refused a matching offer from a British institution, The National Gallery, […]

Unreasonable reasons…further thoughts on the Cultural Property (Armed Conflicts) Bill

Posted on: November 5, 2016 by Emily Gould

Following our post earlier this week on the second reading in the House of Commons of the Cultural Property (Armed Conflicts) Bill, we were interested to read an article in The Times the next day by Sir Edward Garnier, QC, MP and former solicitor-general.* Sir Edward had rehearsed, at some length during the Commons debate, the […]

Conviction at last under 2003 Act

Posted on: May 11, 2016 by Alexander Herman

An important piece of legislation, brought into force around the time of the UK’s accession to the UNESCO 1970 Convention in 2002, has at last been used as the basis for a conviction. The statute, the Dealing in Cultural Objects (Offences) Act 2003, sets out an offence for dishonestly dealing in tainted cultural objects. The term ‘tainted’ for […]

Up your street: a new perspective on street art?

Posted on: February 19, 2016 by Emily Gould

We tend to think of street art as highly contemporary – edgy, modern and up to the minute in its commentary on the social and political controversies of the day. But what about cave paintings, medieval etchings, scrawls on the walls of the ancient city of Pompeii? The once-widespread notion that graffiti and street art […]

New sentencing guidelines for heritage crimes

Posted on: January 14, 2016 by Emily Gould

Next month (February 2016) the new theft guidelines announced by the Sentencing Council last October will come into force. For the first time, the significant harm which can result from crimes like theft of public artworks, stripping of lead from historic churches and the activities of ‘nighthawkers’ is being officially recognized within the English criminal […]

UK’s new Emergency Heritage Management Project

Posted on: November 18, 2015 by Alexander Herman

Officially launched last month, the UK’s Emergency Heritage Management Project will look to help preserve and recover cultural objects and edifices in Iraq that are under threat. In the words of the press release: “It will create a team of local experts to assess, document and stabilise afflicted sites in Iraq, and help begin the process […]