Protecting Cultural Objects: Enforcing the Illicit Export of Foreign Cultural Objects

This article argues that a foreign state should be entitles to sue the possessor/owner of a cultural object in an English court whenever such an object is brought to England in violation of the foreign state's export regulations. At the moment, the legal position is that a state's right to sue for the return of a cultural object is patrimonial and is categorised as an administrative act when the ownership or possession of the object was vested on the state before its removal from its territory and such a claim is akin to a private individual claiming for the restitution of their property. The claim is based on public law and belongs to the category of acts of sovereignty, when neither the proprietary nor the possessory interest was vested in the state before its removal, and is not justiciable in and English court. This article challenges this inadequate position as the real issue is whether international law regards such a claim as constituting an infringement of the sovereignty of the forum state. In the case of cultural objects the answer is negative as stated in numerous international and European conventions as well as in English law, namely Lord Phillips' judgement in the case of The Islamic Republic of Iran v Barakat Galleries and in a Bill that would have implemented the 1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and the Return of Cultural Objects Regulation 1994.