Research handbook on art, culture and heritage law

This Research Handbook contains contributions from leading and emerging scholars worldwide. Its chapters vary between the theoretical and the practical, providing cross-disciplinary perspectives in law, criminology, sociology, and heritage and cultural studies. Its authors consider aspects of art, culture and heritage from a contemporary perspective. They highlight concerns regarding decolonisation, past injustices, sustainability, intergenerational equity, equality and inclusion. The importance of public participation in cultural and heritage matters is emphasised.

This unique Handbook provides provocative debate in key areas, such as the nature of cultural heritage, ethics and the art market, repatriation and its consequences, smuggling and theft in peacetime and looting in wartime. It includes discussion of the significance of provenance research of an object not only from the perspective of ownership but also from an ethical perspective, paying attention to the changing connections which heritage objects can forge. It provides an analysis of frameworks for tangible and intangible property including digital infrastructures.