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Case Note: Another Chapter in the Cassirer Nazi-era Art Saga Focuses on Choice of Law

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 December 2015

Laurie Frey*
Affiliation:
Baker Botts (UK) LLP. Email: lauriefrey09@gmail.com

Abstract:

In June 2015, a United States district court in California found that the Madrid-based Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection Foundation had acquired ownership of a Camille Pissarro painting under Spanish adverse possession law. Unless overturned on appeal, the decision will end the long-running efforts by the heirs of Lilly Cassirer Neubauer to recover the painting, which was wrongfully taken by the Nazis. The decision to apply Spanish law determined the outcome of the case, and the court’s discussion of choice-of-law issues is notable given the decisive effect that the applicable law often has in art and cultural property ownership disputes. After describing the background and reasoning of the case, this case note comments on two interesting aspects of the decision: its discussion of choice of law in the context of suits against foreign government entities and its treatment of a recent amendment to California law intended to make it easier to recover stolen art.

Type
Case Note
Copyright
Copyright © International Cultural Property Society 2015 

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References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

American Law Institute. 1971. Restatement of the Law Second, Conflicts of Laws. §§ 6, 222 and 246. WestlawNext.Google Scholar
Nanda, Ved P., and Pansius, David K.. 2013. Litigation of International Disputes in U.S. Courts. 2nd ed.New York: Thomson Reuters. WestlawNext.Google Scholar