Posted on: March 28, 2022 by Richard Harwood QC
In The Rustat Memorial, Jesus College, Cambridge [2022] ECC Ely, the college authorities proposed to remove a memorial to a seventeenth century benefactor, Tobias Rustat, from the grade I listed chapel. The concern was Rustat’s involvement in the slave trade, as an investor in two companies, and the effect which retaining his memorial in the […]
Posted on: April 24, 2019 by Julia Rodrigues Casella Hommes
Last week’s evening news shocked the world as a blazing fire was reported at the beloved Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. It goes without saying how important Notre Dame is, as both a religious and a historical monument, not only for Christians but for humanity as a whole. It is believed that the fire was […]
Posted on: December 6, 2016 by Alexander Herman
For those who were not aware, there have been two major obituaries of our Academic Principle, Norman Palmer QC CBE, in the UK press. The first appeared in The Times on 3 November and the second appeared on The Guardian website on 17 November (paper edition on 2 January 2017). In addition, in order to remember his […]
Posted on: May 11, 2016 by Alexander Herman
An important piece of legislation, brought into force around the time of the UK’s accession to the UNESCO 1970 Convention in 2002, has at last been used as the basis for a conviction. The statute, the Dealing in Cultural Objects (Offences) Act 2003, sets out an offence for dishonestly dealing in tainted cultural objects. The term ‘tainted’ for […]
Posted on: January 12, 2016 by Alexander Herman
As of last month, the UK has brought into force the necessary regulations to implement the 2014/60 EU Directive on the return of cultural objects unlawfully removed from the territory of a Member State. In fact, the deadline for all EU Member States to bring about this change in their national law was 18 December 2015. […]
Posted on: November 6, 2015 by Richard Harwood QC
“Alas poor William… or whoever.” There is a local tradition that a skull in a vault in St Leonard’s Church, Beoley (which is now part of Redditch) is that of William Shakespeare. Two late Nineteenth Century articles said that Dr Frank Chambers, a local doctor, heard at a dinner at Ragley Hall in 1794 that […]
Posted on: July 7, 2014 by Richard Harwood QC
The Church of England’s faculty jurisdiction extends to objects within a church even if they are not attached to the building or are owned by another person. To that degree it goes beyond listed building control. In Re St Lawrence, Oakley with Wootton St Lawrence, the Arches Court of Canterbury considered the attempted sale of an […]