This title examines whether there is any rule of (customary) international law stipluating that cultural objects are immune from seizure, or whether such a rule is emerging.

The recent spate of threats to cultural heritage, including in Iraq, Mali, Nepal, Syria, and Yemen, has led to increased focus on the sources of international cultural heritage law. This edited volume shows that international cultural heritage law is not a discrete and contained body of law, but one whose component parts are drawn from diverse fields of public international law. It shows how cultural heritage law has been shaped by its interaction with other areas of international law, and how it has contributed to international law in turn. In this volume, scholars and practitioners explore some of the primary points of intersection between international cultural heritage law and public international law. Chapters explore instersections with the law of armed conflict, international and transnational criminal law, international human rights, the international movement, regulation, and restitution of cultural artefacts, and the UN system. The result is a cohesive collection that not only explores many facets of the intersections of cultural heritage law and public international law, but also examines how the regimes operate together and how the relationship between them largely facilitates, but also sometimes hinders, the development of international law governing the protection of cultural heritage.

This Handbook provides a cutting edge study of the fast developing field of international law on the protection of cultural heritage by taking stock of the recent developments and of the core concepts and current challenges. The legal protection of cultural heritage has come under renewed focus from the international community and states since the 1990s. This is evidenced by the adoption of a range of international instruments. Countries are also enacting cultural heritage legislation or overhauling existing laws within their own national territory. Contributions address the protection of immovable and movable, tangible and intangible cultural heritage in peacetime and in the event of armed conflict as well as the interaction between specific regimes of cultural heritage protection with other fields of international law, including international criminal law, human rights and humanitarian law, environmental law, international trade, investments, and intellectual property. The last part of the Handbook covers diverse regional systems of heritage protection.

Cultural Heritage in the European Union provides a critical analysis of the laws and policies which address cultural heritage throughout Europe, considering them in light of the current challenges faced by the Union. The volume examines the matrix of organisational and regulatory frameworks concerned with cultural heritage both in the Union and its Members States, as well as their interaction, cross-fertilisation, and possible overlaps. It brings together experts in their respective fields, including not only legal, but also cultural economists, heritage professionals, government representatives, and historians. The diverse backgrounds of the authors offer a cross-disciplinary approach and a variety of views which allows an in-depth scrutinisation of the latest developments pertaining to cultural heritage in Europe.

The Chinese (Taiwan) Yearbook of International Law and Affairs includes articles and international law materials relating to the Republic of China on Taiwan and contemporary Asia-Pacific issues. This volume provides insight into the South China Sea Arbitration, investment and financial integration in Asia, the Ma-Xi Summit in Singapore, the Taiwan-Philippines Fisheries Agreement, and the 70th Anniversary of the ROC’s War of Resistance against Japan. Questions and comments can be directed to the editorial board of the Yearbook by email at [email protected]

The doctrine of state immunity bars a national court from adjudicating or enforcing claims against foreign states. This doctrine, the foundation for high-profile national and international decisions such as those in the Pinochet case and the Arrest Warrant cases, has always been controversial. The reasons for the controversy are many and varied. Some argue that state immunity paves the way for state violations of human rights. Others argue that the customary basis for the doctrine is not a sufficient basis for regulation and that codification is the way forward. Furthermore, it can be argued that even when judgments are made in national courts against other states, the doctrine makes enforcement of these decisions impossible. This fully restructured new edition provides a detailed analysis of these issues in a more clear and accessible manner. It provides a nuanced assessment of the development of the doctrine of state immunity, including a general comprehensive overview of the plea of immunity of a foreign state, its characteristics, and its operation as a bar to proceedings in national courts of another state. It includes a coherent history and justification of the plea of state immunity, demonstrating its development from the absolute to the restrictive phase, arguing that state immunity can now be seen to be developing into a third phase which uses immunity allocate adjudicative and enforcement jurisdictions between the foreign and the territorial states. The United Nations Convention on Jurisdictional Immunities of states and their Property is thoroughly assessed. Through a detailed examination of the sources of law and of English and US case law, and a comparative analysis of other types of immunity, the authors explore both the law as it stands, and what it could and should be in years to come.

The past forty years have seen a wide proliferation of an extensive range of disputes under international law concerning cultural heritage. These disputes can concern a disparate variety of issues. A substantial number of have concerned the restitution of stolen and illegally exported art objects. Another set of controversies has involved the protection of immovable cultural heritage. Unlike other fields of international law, international cultural heritage law does not have an ad hoc mechanism of dispute settlement. As a result, controversies are to be settled through negotiation or, if this fails, through existing dispute resolution means, which include arbitration and litigation before domestic courts or international tribunals. This ad hoc fashion of dealing with disputes is not without consequences. The most serious problem is that the same or similar cases may be settled in different ways, thereby bringing about an incoherent and fragmentary enforcement of the law. This book offers a comprehensive and innovative analysis of the settlement of cultural heritage disputes. It addresses the means the potential fragmentation can be resolved by providing a two-fold analysis. First, it provides a detailed analysis of the existing legal framework and the available means of judicial and non-judicial dispute settlement. Second, it explores the feasibility of two solutions for overcoming the lack of a specialized forum. The first potential solution is the establishment of a new international court. The second concerns existing judicial and extra-judicial fora and means of increasing interaction between them by the practice of 'cross-fertilization'. The book focuses on the substance of such interaction, and identifies a number of culturally-sensitive parameters which need to apply (the 'common rules of adjudication'). Ultimately the book argues that existing judicial and non-judicial fora should adopt a cross-fertilizing perspective to use and disseminate jurisprudence containing these common rules of adjudication, to enhance the effectiveness and coherence of their decision-making processes. Finally, it sets out how such an approach would be conducive to the development of a wider body of international cultural heritage law.