Welcome to CulturalHeritageLaw.org

intro: CulturalHeritageLaw.org is the web-based home of The Lawyers’ Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation. LCCHP is a nonprofit organization of lawyers, law students and interested members of the public who have joined together to promote the preservation and protection of cultural heritage resources in the United States and internationally through education and advocacy.

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Cultural Heritage Law Blog: The Lawyers' Committee recently launched a new blog as a discussion forum for cultural heritage law issues. The blog will be edited by volunteers from our Students and New Professionals committee. We invite you to read the posts.
http://culturalheritagelaw.blogspot.com

Student Opportunities

LCCHP Joins Two Amicus Curiae Briefs: The Lawyers' Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation has recently joined two amicus curiae briefs--one in Western Watersheds Project v. Bureau of Land management, involving the scope of the President's authority to include management directives in proclamations designating national monuments under the Antiquities Act of 1906, and the second in Bakalar v. Vavra, involving the application of the Swiss law good faith purchaser doctrine to a case in which a claimant is attempting to recover art works taken during the Holocaust.

Visit the Advocacy section for more information.

Archeological Conservancy Brief of Amici Curiae: The National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Society for American Archaeology, the Archaeological Institute of America, and the Lawyers' Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation submitted an amicus curiae brief in support of the Archaeological Conservancy in a dispute concerning Texas land with an archaeologically significant site.

Read the Brief of Amici Curiae

U.S. & China Sign Agreement Restricting Import of Chinese Archaeological Materials: In 2004, China submitted a request to the United States for import restrictions on archaeological materials, pursuant to the 1970 UNESCO Convention and the Convention on Cultural Property Implementation Act. At the public hearing held before the Cultural Property Advisory Committee, the Lawyers’ Committee submitted a statement in support of China’s request. On January 14, 2009, the United States and the People’s Republic of China entered into a bilateral agreement, imposing import restrictions on undocumented archaeological materials that belong to certain designated categories. The archaeological materials subject to import restriction represent China’s cultural heritage from the Paleolithic Period (beginning approximately 75,000 B.C.) through the end of the Tang Dynasty (907 A.D.) and monumental sculpture and wall art that is at least 250 years old. The designated categories of objects include bronze vessels, sculpture, coins, wall paintings, and objects of iron, gold, silver, bone, ivory, horn and shell, as well as silks, textiles, lacquer, bamboo, paper, wood, and glass.
Visit the Advocacy section for more information.

U.S. Senate votes to Ratify 1954 Hague Convention: On September 25, 2008, the U.S. Senate voted to give its advice and consent to U.S. ratification of the1954 Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. Read the statement that was submitted by the Lawyers Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation, the U.S. Committee for the Blue Shield, the Archaeological Institute of America and twelve other cultural preservation organizations to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in support of ratification.

Download 1954 Hague Testimony Document

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