Comment on Trophies for the Empire by David Rudenstine
![handle is hein.journals/caelj39 and id is 549 raw text is: COMMENT ON TROPHIES FOR THE EMPIRE BY
DAVID RUDENSTINE*
LAWRENCE M. KAYE*
Professor (and former Dean of Cardozo Law School) David Ruden-
stine offers a subtitle for his monumental article: The Epic Dispute Be-
tween Greece and England over the Parthenon Sculptures in the British
Museum. And therein lies the challenge. For this epic dispute is just
that: one of the most important cultural property disputes of all time. And
thus, not surprisingly, it has been the subject of considerable commen-
tary, ranging from newspaper articles and opinions to scholarly articles
and books. So, why does all this scholarship on the topic need yet another
study or commentary? Well, the answer can only be provided after read-
ing Professor Rudenstine's article that is almost one hundred pages in
length and contains over five hundred footnotes.
After all these years of debate and commentary, the article is exactly
the elixir that was needed. Prior publications have offered arguments in
favor of or opposed to the return of the Parthenon sculptures to Greece.2
* Permission is hereby granted for noncommercial reproduction of this Comment in whole or in
part for education or research purposes, including the making of multiple copies for classroom use,
subject only to the condition that the name of the author, a complete citation, and this copyright
notice and grant of permission be included in all copies.
* Lawrence M. Kaye is Partner at Herrick, Feinstein LLP where he is the Co-Chair or the Art Law
Group and the Co-Chair of the Turkish Practice Group.
' David Rudenstine, Trophies for the Empire: The Epic Dispute Between Greece and England over
the Parthenon Sculptures in the British Museum, 39 CARDOZO ARTS & ENT. L.J. 377 (2021).
2 See e.g., Robert Browning, The Parthenon in History, in THE ELGIN MARBLES: SHOULD THEY
BE RETURNED TO GREECE? 11 (Christopher Hitchens ed., Verso ed. 1997); CHRISTOPHER
HITCHENS, THE ELGIN MARBLES: SHOULD THEY BE RETURNED TO GREECE?, at vii (Verso ed.
1997); CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS, IMPERIAL SPOILS: THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE ELGIN MARBLES
(1987); IAN JENKINS, THE PARTHENON FRIEZE (1994); TIFFANY JENKINS, KEEPING THEIR
MARBLES (2016); DOROTHY KING, THE ELGIN MARBLES (2006); JOHN HENRY MERRYMAN,
THINKING ABOUT THE ELGIN MARBLES: CRITICAL ESSAYS ON CULTURAL PROPERTY, ART AND
LAW (2d ed. 2009); WILLIAM ST. CLAIR, LORD ELGIN & THE MARBLES: THE CONTROVERSIAL
HISTORY OF THE PARTHENON SCULPTURES (3d ed. 1998); John Boardman, The Elgin Marbles:
Matters of act and Opinion, 9 INT'L J. CULTURAL PROP. 233 (2000); Marc Fehlmann, Casts &
Connoisseurs: The Early Reception ofthe Elgin Marbles, APOLLO, June 2007, at 44; Melissa Jones,
What Should Be Done with the Elgin Marbles? Using the History of the Controversy and Modern
Considerations to Propose Best Practices, 4 ALPHA CHI J. UNDERGRADUATE SCHOLARSHIP 1
(2019); Michael Kimmelman, Elgin Marble Argument in a New Light, N.Y. TIMES (June 23, 2009),
https://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/arts/design/24abroad.html [https://perma.cc/2PLG-M93L];
John Henry Merryman, Thinking About the Elgin Marbles, 83 MICH. L. REV. 1881 (1985); Alison
Lindsey Moore, Looted Art: The Case of the Parthenon Sculptures, 6 OSPREY J. IDEAS & INQUIRY
34 (2007); David Rudenstine, A Tale of Three Documents: Lord Elgin and the Missing, Historic
521](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/caelj39&div=19&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Comment on Trophies for the Empire by David Rudenstine
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