Tag Archives: Theft

Film review – The Duke starring Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren

Posted on: March 10, 2022 by Geoffrey Bennett

The taking of a major artwork from a national gallery would not normally sound like a promising scenario for an entertaining comedy-drama. Its portrayal in the recently released film The Duke is a testament to the highly unusual story that lies behind it and its central character, the improbably named Kempton Bunton. The film tells […]

Man jailed following attempted theft of Magna Carta

Posted on: July 28, 2020 by Paul Stevenson

Readers of this blog may recall the 2018 attempted theft by Mark Royden of Salisbury Cathedral’s copy of Magna Carta. Reports confirm that Royden attacked the document’s protective case before being pursued by members of the public, including American tourists, cathedral staff, and stonemasons, who detained him in a works yard outside. In a welcome […]

Art Crime in Current Times

Posted on: May 1, 2020 by Charlotte Dunn

There is no doubt that the current times have caused extraordinary changes to daily life. There have been major impacts on every aspect of society, including how, when and where crime will occur. Thankfully, in general, crime has fallen since the introduction of lockdown measures in the UK. However, as noted in this article by […]

Response of the museum sector to the coronavirus pandemic

Posted on: April 10, 2020 by Emily Gould

In a blog post last week, we discussed the many ramifications of the Coronavirus pandemic on contracts. The effects are being felt by businesses and individuals in all sectors across the globe, and museums are certainly not immune to the challenges presented. The inevitable cancellations of exhibitions involves disrupting contractual arrangements on many levels, from […]

Recent case of ‘stolen’ Turing memorabilia highlights the complexities of the law of title

Posted on: February 13, 2020 by Charlotte Dunn

An intriguing series of events has led the US Government to commence court action over a collection of objects associated with Alan Turing, the British mathematician. Alan Turing is famous for his involvement in breaking the German Enigma code during WW2 and for his contribution to the field of computer science. This case raises questions […]

Heritage Crime Day with Historic England

Posted on: February 2, 2019 by Rebecca Hawkes-Reynolds

On 24 January 2019 IAL Senior Researcher Emily Gould and I attended a workshop on heritage crime organised by Historic England. The aim of the workshop was to present to the attendees the various types of heritage crime that can be committed, how the perpetrators can be convicted and appropriate sentences to be handed down […]

Study Forum in London

Posted on: March 6, 2018 by Kiri Cragin Folwell

On Saturday 3rd March 2018 we were pleased to host an all-day study forum in London at the Queen Mary University’s Centre for Commercial Law Studies. The event had talks from expert speakers covering specific areas related to art and cultural heritage law. Talks included: ‘The Implementation of the Hague Convention and the work of […]

New York seizure of a “recovered” Persian artefact

Posted on: November 28, 2017 by Alexander Herman and Holly Woodhouse

Last month, on the 21st of October, the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office (along with local police) seized an ancient Achaemenid Persian bas-relief from the European Fine Art Fair at the Park Avenue Armory in New York. The item was being offered for sale by the London-based art dealer Robert Wace for roughly $1.2 million. The […]

Nazi-looted art lecture by Nicholas O’Donnell

Posted on: September 14, 2017 by Alexander Herman

Along with the Centre for Commercial Law Studies at Queen Mary, University of London, we were happy to host US attorney Nicholas O’Donnell last night for a talk on Nazi-looted art and the ongoing attempts at reclaiming lost works from museums and private collections in the US. Nicholas was in London promoting his new book, […]

Combating heritage crime: the international perspective

Posted on: August 9, 2017 by Emily Gould

As promised in our post last week, having looked at developments in the fight against heritage crime in the UK, we’re now turning our attention to the international context. We were considering in particular a number of interesting developments across a range of disciplines: the law, military practice, technology and community engagement. As regards the […]