ABSTRACT
The chapter analyses the current importance of private law in the current forms of protection for cultural heritage, and Polish legal regulation in this field is given a closer examination. The concept of res extra commercium is presented in terms of benefits and risks when it comes to the protection of public collections, such as title laundering and forum shopping, which bring the status of relevant property to a halt. A regional perspective is taken, followed by considerations on the possible scope of res extra commercium and the role of private actors.
The analysis includes legal provisions on acquiring the ownership of cultural objects and archaeological objects and the lex specialis for archaeological artefacts. Those provisions are situated among the specific ways in which the ownership of particular cultural objects is acquired. The State Treasury, as an entity representing the public interest and acting as a credible depositary of cultural property, plays a pivotal role. Some of the most debated components of heritage are the result of state ownership and the impact of the UNESCO-UNIDROIT Model Provisions on State Ownership of Undiscovered Cultural Objects. Evolving legal provisions on treasures and the legal status of found/discovered cultural property confirm that special models of acquiring ownership constitute a private law mechanism of protection.
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Polish Private Law and Cultural Heritage in Alicja Jagielska-Burduk, Cultural Heritage as a Legal Hybrid: Between Public and Private Law (Springer 2022). First Online 20 July.
First posted 2022-07-23 10:00:16
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