Cultural Heritage Law

Cultural heritage property can be protected in a variety of ways, including at the international level, by enforcement in domestic courts, and through alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. This book sets out the legal framework applicable to cultural heritage and assesses how this works in practice, including in situations of conflict.

First Nations Cultural Heritage and Law explores First Nations perspectives on cultural heritage and issues of reform within and beyond Western law. Written in collaboration with First Nation partners, it contains seven case studies featuring indigenous concepts, legal orders, and encounters with legislation and negotiations; a national review essay; three chapters reflecting on major themes; and a self-reflective critique on the challenges of collaborative and intercultural research. Although the volume draws on specific First Nation experiences, it covers a wide range of topics of concern to Inuit, Metis, and other indigenous peoples.

This book explores the objects, means and ends of international cultural heritage protection. It starts from a broad conception of cultural heritage that encompasses both tangible property, such as museum objects or buildings, and intangible heritage, such as languages and traditions. Cultural heritage thus defined is protected by various legal regimes, including the law of armed conflicts, UNESCO Conventions and international criminal law. With a view to strengthening international protection, the authors analyze existing regimes and elaborate innovative concepts, such as blue helmets of culture and safe havens for endangered cultural heritage. Finally, the ends of international protection come to the fore, and the authors address possible conflicts between protecting cultural diversity and wishes to strengthen cultural identity.

** Winner of the ABILA (American Branch of the International Law Association) Book of the Year Award for a Book on Practical or Technical Subject. ** In this book James Nafziger covers emerging topics of cultural heritage law, a relatively new landmark in the field of both national and international law. His primary focus is on the frontiers identified and developed by the numerous work products of the International Law Association's Committee on Cultural Heritage Law, expanded and updated by some of his own writings. The construction of cultural heritage law is a good example of transnationalism at work, combining national initiatives with diplomacy, UNESCO and other intergovernmental agreements, international custom, and non-governmental initiatives such as the ILA committee's own contributions. These have included published studies, annotated principles and resolutions, draft treaties and a book focused on national practices in the international trade of cultural material. This volume concludes by briefly exploring current and future frontiers of a burgeoning range of topics that are central to many people's daily experiences and interests. This book was awarded the ABILA (American Branch of the International Law Association) Book of the Year Award for a Book on a Practical or Technical Subject, in 2022.

This comprehensive collection of leading articles spans a broad range of international legal issues related to both tangible cultural material - such as archaeological and indigenous objects, fine art, shipwrecks, and cultural sites - and intangible heritage such as traditional knowledge and genetic information. Specific topics include, among others, issues of definition and attribution, on-site protection of objects and sites, illegal trafficking and repatriation of objects, and protection of intangible heritage. Special attention is paid to applicable provisions of UNESCO treaties and other international instruments and to pertinent rules of private international law. A concluding section focuses on the resolution of cultural heritage disputes by litigation and alternative methods. Along with an introduction by Professor Nafziger, this authoritative volume will be immensely valuable to students and professionals alike.

Indigenous peoples around the world are seeking greater control over tangible and intangible cultural heritage. In Canada, issues concerning repatriation and trade of material culture, heritage site protection, treatment of ancestral remains, and control over intangible heritage are governed by a complex legal and policy environment. This volume looks at the key features of Canadian, US, and international law influencing indigenous cultural heritage in Canada. Legal and extralegal avenues for reform are examined and opportunities and limits of existing frameworks are discussed. Is a radical shift in legal and political relations necessary for First Nations concerns to be meaningfully addressed?

Art, Cultural Heritage, and the Law is one of the first and most comprehensive legal casebooks to address the rapidly emerging fields of art and cultural heritage law. It is also distinctive in its extensive use of an interdisciplinary approach, with accompanying images to illustrate the artworks discussed in the legal materials. The fourth edition continues the tradition of the earlier editions in focusing on the meaning of the art works and cultural objects that are at the heart of an increasing number of legal disputes. This book addresses artists' rights (freedom of expression, copyright, and moral rights), the functioning of the art market (dealers and auction houses, warranties of quality and authenticity, transfer of title and recovery of stolen art works, and the role of museums), and cultural heritage (including the fate of art works and cultural objects in time of war; the international trade in art works and cultural objects; the historic, archaeological, and underwater heritage of the United States; and indigenous cultures, focusing on restitution of Native American cultural objects and human remains and the appropriation of indigenous culture). The inclusion of images of many of the art works and cultural objects at issue helps students to understand why these disputes occur and why the litigants feel so strongly about the outcomes. The fourth edition retains the basic structure of the earlier editions while updating all relevant case law, legislation, and policies. It includes cutting-edge legal developments, such as Cariou v. Prince, the Berkshire Museum deaccessioning decision, Trustees of the Corcoran Gallery v. District of Columbia, the Knoedler Gallery cases, Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act cases (Williams v. National Gallery of Art, Philipp v. Federal Republic of Germany, Rubin v. Iran, and DeCsepel v. Hungary), Konowaloff v. Metropolitan Museum of Art, Okinawa Dugong v. Mattis, Navajo Nation v. Dep't of Interior, and Navajo Nation v. Urban Outfitters. Treatment of new legislation includes the Holocaust Era Art Recovery Act, the Foreign Cultural Exchange Jurisdictional Immunity Clarification Act, and the Protect and Preserve International Cultural Property Act. A new section examines the intersection of human rights and cultural heritage, while expanded sections address the use of civil forfeiture in art recovery cases, museum policies on acquisition of antiquities and the use of proceeds realized from the sale of art works from museum collections, and comparative analysis of market country implementation of the 1970 UNESCO Convention.

The world’s cultural heritage is under threat from war, illicit trafficking, social and economic upheaval, unregulated excavation and neglect. Over a period of almost fifty years, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation has adopted five international conventions that attempt to protect this cultural heritage. This book comprehensively and critically considers these five UNESCO cultural heritage conventions. The book looks at the conventions in the context of recent events that have exposed the dangers faced by cultural heritage, including the destruction of cultural heritage sites in Iraq and the looting of the Baghdad museum, the destruction the Buddhas of Bamiyan in Afghanistan, the salvage of artefacts from the RMS Titanic and the illicit excavation and trade in Chinese, Peruvian and Italian archaeological objects. As the only existing work to consider all five of the cultural heritage conventions adopted by UNESCO, the book acts as an introduction to this growing area of international law. However, the book does not merely describe the conventional principles and rules, but, critically evaluates the extent to which these international law principles and rules provide an effective and coherent international law framework for the protection of cultural heritage. It is suitable not only for those schooled in the law, but also for those who work with cultural heritage in all its manifestations seeking a broad but critical consideration of this important area of international law.