Cultural property law is the body of law that protects and regulates the disposition of culturally significant material

Cultural heritage

Cultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations...

, including historic real property

Real property

In English Common Law, real property, real estate, realty, or immovable property is any subset of land that has been legally defined and the improvements to it made by human efforts: any buildings, machinery, wells, dams, ponds, mines, canals, roads, various property rights, and so forth...

, ancient and historic artifacts, artwork, and intangible cultural property. Cultural property can be any property, tangible or intangible, having special significance to a defined group of people, whether or not the group is vested with a traditional property interest. Cultural property laws may be international (such as international conventions or bilateral agreements) or domestic (such as federal laws or state laws).

Cultural property during armed conflict

Two major treaties have dealt with the issue of cultural heritage protection during armed conflict:

• Roerich Pact of 1935, amongst the Pan American Union
• Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict
  Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict
  The Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict is an international treaty that requires its signatories to protect cultural property in war. It was signed at The Hague, Netherlands, on May 14, 1954, and entered into force August 7, 1956...
  
   of 1954, superseding the Roerich Pact.

Repatriation and looting

Repatriation issues may also apply domestically, for instance, in the United States, the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act

Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act , Pub. L. 101-601, 25 U.S.C. 3001 et seq., 104 Stat. 3048, is a United States federal law passed on 16 November 1990 requiring federal agencies and institutions that receive federal funding to return Native American "cultural items" to...

(NAGPRA)

External links

• The Cultural Property and Archaeology Law Blog
• Heritage Law Bibliography
• [Saunders, Pammela Q., "A Sea Change Off the Coast of Maine: Common Pool Resources as Cultural Property, vol. 60, Emory L.J. (June 2011), http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1701225]