Choice of Law in Litigation to Recover National Cultural Property: Efforts at Harmonization in Private International Law
![handle is hein.journals/vajint31 and id is 11 raw text is: Choice of Law in Litigation to Recover
National Cultural Property: Efforts at
Harmonization in Private
International Law
THOMAS W. PECORARO*
International trade in illicit art objects is growing by leaps and
bounds.' Stolen art is highly marketable; apart from the most
renowned pieces, it is easy to hide, smuggle, and resell.2 Stolen works
are generally laundered through a series of sales to buyers with pro-
gressively less knowledge of the object's taint.3 When such sales
occur across national boundaries, parties often take advantage of
jurisdictions with favorable laws in order quickly to quiet title in their
favor.
The black market sale of art objects has, however, triggered a com-
mensurate increase in the number of disputes regarding title to objects
for sale in that market. Such disputes can arise when art is sold to a
good-faith purchaser in violation of the rights of a joint owner; sold
subject to a creditor's lien; or sold following illegal exportation,
* Associate, Coudert Brothers, Los Angeles. A.B., University of California, Berkeley
(1981); J.D., Harvard (1990). The author thanks Professor Alan L Feld for his critical
comments during the preparation of the paper that led to this Article. Gratitude is also
extended to Catherine D. Emmons and Sarah Card Trotta for their valuable editing assistance.
1. See, e.g., J. Greenfield, The Return of Cultural Treasures 236-40 (1989); Bator, An
Essay on the International Trade in Art, 34 Stan. L Rev. 275, 289-94 (1982); Note, Title
Disputes in the Art Market: An Emerging Duty of Care for Art Merchants, 51 Geo. Wash. L
Rev. 443 (1983) [hereinafter Note, Emerging Duty].
2. See Comment, DeWeerth v. Baldinger. Making New York A Haven for Stolen Art?, 64
N.Y.U. L. Rev. 909 (1989).
3. See Cultural Property Repose Act Hearings on S. 1523 Before the Subcomm. on
Patents, Copyrights, and Trademarks of the Senate Comm. on the Judiciary, 99th Cong., 2d
Sess. 66 (1986) [hereinafter Cultural Property Repose Act Hearings] (testimony of William B.
Jones, President, International Foundation for Art Research).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/vajint31&div=8&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Choice of Law in Litigation to Recover National Cultural Property: Efforts at Harmonization in Private International Law
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