Art and culture law is the body of law, including domestic and foreign law, and multilateral treaties and conventions, that regulates and is applied to artists, fine art and cultural property. Art can expose society's faults and freedoms and often artistic expression can conflict with cultural and political ideals. Yet equally, art can also make sense of law - advancing dialogues on social injustice.

Areas of art and culture law

* Art and cultural property law * Art and

cultural heritage Cultural heritage is the heritage of tangible and intangible heritage assets of a group or society that is inherited from past generations. Not all heritages of past generations are "heritage"; rather, heritage is a product of selection by soci ...

law *

Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, usually known as the Berne Convention, was an international assembly held in 1886 in the Swiss city of Bern by ten European countries with the goal to agree on a set of l ...

(1971) * Copyright litigation * Cultural property disputes * Cultural property law * Federal cultural property legislation * International cultural property protection * Moral rights

Theories

John Henry Merryman is a pioneer of cultural and artistic property law academia. He has drawn distinctions between ''two'' paradigms through which art and cultural law can be defined. The ''first'' is the subject being independent of its national ties and attracting significance and meaning from the historical or archaeological interest that is generated by human culture. This is idea is legally bolstered by the UNESCO definition of cultural objects which is a close definition of significant objects which attract interest.Article 1, The UNESCO Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property of 1970. The ''second'' inextricably ties cultural objects to their national heritage which in turn legitimises efforts for their re-patriation (see Elgin marbles, Gweagal shield, Easter island).

References

External links

The Art Law Blog

National Coalition Against Censorship Art Law Database

Authentication in Art: Art & Law
Civil law (common law) Intellectual property law International law {{International-law-stub