The « First Time Instance » as Regards Restitution of Removed Cultural Properties

A rule of customary international law is commonly believed to consist in «a general practice accepted as law», as stated in Art. 38, para. 1, b, of the Statute of the International Court of Justice. In studying the process that leads to the creation of a new customary rule where no rule existed or the replacement of an old rule by a new one, particularly important is the «first time» instance, that is the case when the need for a new regime is publicly manifested for the first time. As such a need cannot be grounded on legal precedents, for the simple reason that they do not exist, reasons of moral, political, social, economic or cultural character are often put forward to explain the innovation and make it acceptable for other States.


Introduction
A rule of customary international law is commonly believed to consist in «a general practice accepted as law», as stated in Art.38, para. 1, b, of the Statute of the International Court of Justice.In studying the process that leads to the creation of a new customary rule where no rule existed or the replacement of an old rule by a new one, particularly important is the «first time» instance, that is the case when the need for a new regime is publicly manifested for the first time.As such a need cannot be grounded on legal precedents, for the simple reason that they do not exist, reasons of moral, political, social, economic or cultural character are often put forward to explain the innovation and make it acceptable for other States.
The first antecedent of present debates on the return of removed cultural properties to their States of origin 1 can be found in a diplomatic mission made in 1815 by the Italian sculptor Antonio Canova .

Canova's Journey to Paris
The French revolutionaries discussed whether works of art deserved to be destroyed as memories of the shameful age of tyrannies or should be preserved as such to help nations to progress in new directions.For instance, on 14 August 1792 the National Assembly adopted a decree relating to the destruction of monuments representing feudality.It was based on the assumption that objects which embodied pride, prejudice and tyranny should not be kept under the eyes of the French people and, if made of bronze, could more usefully be converted into cannons: L'Assemblée nationale, considérant que les principes sacrés de la liberté et de l'égalité ne permettent pas de laisser plus longtemps sous les yeux du peuple français les monumens élevés à l'orgueil, au préjugé et à la tyrannie; Considérant que le bronze de ces monumens, converti en canons, servira utilement à la défense de la patrie, […] 2 .
However, while the fate of certain monuments was unquestionably decided, the objects which were of essentially artistic value could have the chance to be preserved: Les monumens, restes de la féodalité, de quelque nature qu'ils soient, existant encore dans les temples et autres lieux publics, et même à l'extérieur des maisons particulières, seront, sans aucun délai, détruits à la diligence des communes (Art.3).
In the end the view prevailed that France had the right and even the duty to «free» the works of art held by royal or religious oppressors in other countries and to exhibit them to the public in the national museums, beginning with the Louvre.Art.VIII: «Le pape livrera à la république française cent tableaux, bustes, vases, ou statues, au choix des commissaires qui seront envoyés à Rome; parmi lesquels objets seront notamment compris le buste de bronze de Junius Brutus et celui en marbre de Marcus Brutus, tous les deux placés au capitole; et cinq cent manuscrits au choix des mêmes commissaires» (PARRY,C. Consolidated Treaty Series,vol. 53,p. 128).
included, as a fig leaf of legality, provisions on the right to remove a certain number of cultural properties chosen by French generals or commissions 6 .
In 1815, after the fall of Napoleon, Pope Pius VII sent Canova to Paris as his special envoy to King Louis XVIII in the attempt to recover the one hundred works of art and five hundred manuscripts delivered by the Papal State to France under the treaty of Tolentino.Although the question had been discussed, the instruments adopted within the framework of the Congress of Vienna (1815) did not provide explicitly for the return of cultural properties to the territories they had been taken from by France.
Canova was known and celebrated everywhere in Europe for his outstanding artistic talent and personal qualities.He had been working for the most important private and public purchasers, including Venetian and English noblemen, the popes, Napoleon and his family, the emperor of Austria, the kings of Naples and of Bavaria, the tsar of Russia.The fact that one of Napoleon's favourite artists 7 was later in charge of recovering the masterpieces removed by the former French emperor himself should not be seen as a change in human inclinations, but simply as confirmation that the merit of art goes beyond the fate of the protagonists of history.
Yet Napoleon' habit of removing works of art from defeated countries was criticized even at the time of the height of his glory.One of Canova's most powerful allies in his mission was a booklet published in 1796 by the French scholar Antoine-Chrysostome Quatremère de Quincy (1755-1849), containing seven letters on the prejudice that would be caused to arts and science by the removal of monuments of art from Italy.In this work, re-published in Rome in 1803 and 1815, Quatremère took a clear position against the spoliation of the Italian territories 8 .the armistice of 23 Floréal 4 (12 May 1796) between France and Modena (Art.III: «Le duc de Modène sera tenu de livrer vingt tableaux à prendre dans sa galerie ou dans ses états, au choix des citoyens qui seront à cet effet commis») and the armistice of 16 May 1797 between France and Venice (secret Art.V: «La république de Venise remettra enfin aux commissaires à ce destinés vingt tableaux et cinq cent manuscrits au choix du général en chef»).The purposes of Quatremère's booklet are clearly limited to the specific case of Rome.Nevertheless a broader scope can be attributed to his thoughts.According to Quatremère, a sort of «republic of arts and sciences» (république des arts et des sciences) had been established in Europe among a group of selected individuals.It was ruled by the principle of universal brotherhood which could not be defeated by the bloody practice of war: En effet, vous le savez, les arts et les sciences forment depuis long-temps en Europe une république, dont les membres, liés entre eux par l'amour et la recherche de beau et du vrai qui sont leur pacte social, tendent beaucoup moins à s'isoler de leurs patries respectives, qu'à en rapprocher les intérêts sous le point de vue si précieux d'une fraternité universelle.Cet heureux sentiment, vous le savez encore, ne peut être étouffé même par ces discordes sanglantes qui poussent les nations à s'entre-déchirer 9 .
A corollary to this general principle was that nobody had the right to seize properties which are the heritage of all peoples 10 .To imitate the ancient Romans who had the habit of looting conquered cities would have been to move backwards from civilization to chaos: Je sais bien aussi qu'il existe sur l'objet de cette discussion des maximes de droit public, que quelques esprits pervers ou pervertis feignent d'ignorer, et dont l'oubli, s'il pouvoit avoir lieu, feroit rétrograder l'Europe, et rentrer son droit des gens dans le chaos de la politique léonine des anciens Romains 11 .
For the French scholar, to divide cultural properties by removing them from the places where they had been created was to destroy them (diviser c'est détruire 12 ).Their removal strikes a mortal blow to the education of foreign countries, without it being useful for the country that seizes the properties 13 .9 QUATREMERE DE QUINCY, A.C. Op. cit., p. 3. 10 «Ainsi, je ne puis bien répondre à votre question, qu'en faisant abstraction de ce faux intérêt de pays, qui est le partage des ignorans et des fripons: ce sera comme membre de cette république générale des arts et des sciences, et non habitant de telle ou telle nation, que je discuterai de cet intérêt que toutes les parties ont à la conservation du tout.Quel est-il cet intérêt?C'est celui de la civilisation, du perfectionnement des moyens de bonheur et de plaisir, de l'avancement et des progrès de l'instruction et de la raison, de l›amélioration enfin de l'espèce humaine.Tout ce qui peut concourir à cette fin appartient à tous les peuples; nul n'a le droit de se l'approprier ou d'en disposer arbitrairement» (ibid., p. 4).

11
Ibid., p. 8. 12 Ibid., p. 25. 13 «Le déplacement des principaux monumens de l'art enlevés à leur patrie, doit porter un coup funeste à l'instruction des autres nations, sans devenir utile à la nation qui se les approprieroit» (ibid., p. 87).«Mais voyez combien ce transport de monumens qui ne peut jamais être que partiel et très-borné, combien ce transfèrement funeste à l'Europe, devient encore inutile au pays qui en aura été le recéleur.En effet, croyez-vous que la nation qui se seroit adjugé à son prétendu profit, quelques-uns des modèles du beau, comme autant de ballots de marchandises, trouveroit un gros bénéfice dans cette importation?Pensez-vous qu'elle y trouve Quatremère's thoughts applied not only to cultural properties taken as war booty, but also to traffic in such properties peacetime.For the same reason that a State cannot remove the cultural properties from other States, it cannot trade its own cultural properties for economic gain 14 .Cultural properties have a special status and cannot be treated as commercial goods 15 .We owe to Quatremère also the profound intuition that the richest can also be the most undeserving, especially if they are accustomed to appreciating only the commercial value of the objects that they possess 16 .The Quatremère's thoughts reflect the idea of a collective interest which is shared by all human beings and aims at the protection of cultural heritage and its preservation in the context where it has been created.Although the concept that belligerent States cannot destroy cultural properties had already been enunciated before him 17 , Quatremère stated very clearly that to remove is equivalent to destroy.He gave to this concept a general sense, which covered both war and peacetime.In fact, the république des arts et des sciences existed only in Quatremère's mind and it is likely that it will never exist in an international community composed of sovereign States.But such a trivial remark has no particular importance, as Quatremère put forward an ethical principle that goes beyond the provisions of the applicable law and is relevant also today.

15
«Quand cessera-t-on de regarder les objets de l'instruction publique comme des joyaux, comme des diamans dont on ne jouit que pour le tarif de leur valeur?» (ibid., p. 65).16 «L'amour de l'argent n'a jamais produit que de l'argent» (ibid., p. 84).«Il est évident qu'on ne peut pas diminuer autour de soi les lumières, les connoissances, les talens, le goût et l'amour des arts, sans les diminuer aussi chez soi» (ibid., p. 91).17 «Pour quelque sujet que l'on ravage un pays on doit épargner les édifices qui font honneur à l'humanité, & qui ne contribuent point à rendre l'ennemi plus puissant; les temples, les tombaux, les bâtiments publics, tous les ouvrages respectables par leur beauté.Que gagne-t-on à les détruire?C'est se déclarer l'ennemi du genre humain, que de le priver de gaieté de coeur, de ces monuments de l'art, de ces modèles du goût» : DE VATTEL, E. Le droit des gens ou principes de la loi naturelle appliqués à la conduite & aux affaires des nations & des souverains.Londres, 1758, t.III, l.III, chap.IX, paras.168 and 169).apparently valid treaty provision under which the objects had been removed.While not being a lawyer, it appear that the sculptor was able to address complex legal question, such as the validity or nullity of a treaty concluded under coercion or the termination of a treaty as a consequence of its breach 19 .An even stronger objection put forward by the French authorities was that the works of art in question were much better kept and made available to the public in the galleries of the Louvre Museum than in the obscurity and neglect of the Roman churches and palaces.Canova accepted this remark and undertook to have the properties collected in a properly arranged museum once they had returned to Rome 20 .This was in fact done by the papal government.As a result of his mission Canova succeeded in recovering from France seventy-seven of the removed works of art (including the Laocoon, the Apollon of Belvedere, the Transfiguration by Raphael and the Deposition by Caravaggio21 ) and several manuscripts.This was the first time that the practice that the victorious power can take possession of the cultural heritage of the defeated countries was so clearly reversed by the return of such heritage to the place from which it had been removed.The question was asked whether it is acceptable that the stronger takes advantage of the vulnerability of the weaker to engage in the looting of cultural properties.A negative answer was given to it as a consequence of moral and cultural considerations.The States themselves that defeated France refrained from looting the looter and chose to support the original owner to recover the properties.

The Manuscripts Returned to the University of Heidelberg
An interesting corollary to Canova's mission is the return of a number of manuscripts looted in 1622 in wartime by Maximilian, Duke of Bavaria, from the Palatine Library of the University of Heidelberg and donated in 1623 by the duke to Pope Gregory XV.Forty-seven of these manuscripts were among the cultural properties which had been removed under the Treaty of Tolentino from the Vatican Library in Rome and then recovered in Paris by Canova.
Prince Metternich, on behalf of Austria, and Prince Hardenberg, on behalf of Prussia, in two similar letters written on 26 and 31 October 1815 to cardinal Consalvi, the Secretary of State of the Pope, reminded the latter of how they had supported Canova's mission in pursuance of the needs of «justice» in order to recover objects linked to the honour and culture of a State: La plus part des marbles, tableaux et manuscrits, enlévés à la ville de Rome et à l'Etat Romain, se trouvent entre les mains du commissaire du St. Père, et ceux, qui restent encore, continuent à Lui être remis.Si les Puissances alliées se sont cru engagées par les considérations générales les plus importantes, à donner cet exemple éclatant de justice, et à ne point souffrir que des objets qui tiennent immédiatement à l'honneur et à la culture des nations, qui forment leur patrimoine, le plus cher, et sur lesquels le droit de la guerre ne devrait jamais s'étendre, restent la possession d'une seule qui s'en était emparée injustement, Elles ont éprouvé en même temps une satisfaction bien particulière d'avoir pu témoigner par là à Sa Sainteté le Pape leur désir de protéger Ses intérêts, et de seconder Ses vues22 .
At the same time, Austria and Prussia took the opportunity to plead for the claim made by the University of Heidelberg for the return of the looted manuscripts.As Heidelberg was located at that time in a third country (the State of Baden), Austria and Prussia stated they were acting in the name of the interest for German culture that was shared by different States («vu les devoirs que Leur imposent les rapports qui unissent tous les Princes de l'Allemagne, et l'intérêt qu'Elles prennent à l'honneur national, et à un rétablissement littéraire qui appartient aux plus anciens et aux plus célèbres de l'Allemagne»).They based their request on two main grounds.The first was the legal argument that the original acquisition was an illegal act to which acquisitive prescription could not bring any remedy: Il lui [= Prince Metternich] serait facile d'entrer dans la discussion des titres qui justifient la demande l'université d'Heidelberg, de s'étendre sur l'injustice de l'acte hostile qui déplaça la propriété particulière d'un établissement entièrement étranger à la guerre, d'examiner si le laps de temps pouvait rendre légitime une possession, qui ne s'était point dans son origine.
The second argument was the cultural need to ensure that unique texts of fundamental importance for the study of the origins of German languages were returned to the country to which they were so strictly linked: Le Soussigné [= Prince Metternich] se borne seulement à observer, que la Bibliothèque Palatine consiste pour la plus grande partie en d'anciennes poésies allemandes manuscrites, aussi étrangères par la langue, que peu intéressantes par leur contenu au pays, où elles existent à présent, tandis qu'il serait de la plus grande importance, même pour l'étude de la langue, de rendre à l'Allemagne ces monuments précieux de son ancienne littérature.
For both political reasons and the sake of consistency, it was difficult for the Pope to resist the claim which included not only the 47 codes returned from France but was extended also to the whole of the collection that had originally belonged to the Palatine Library (847 German, 1954 Latin, 393 Greek and 278 Hebrew manuscripts).In two letters of 30 December 1815 to Metternich and Hardenberg, cardinal Consalvi put forward a number of legal arguments that played against the request to return the codes, the strongest of which was that a period of no less than 192 years had elapsed since the Pope's acquisition of them.However, the cardinal concluded that the Pope was willing to donate to the University of Heidelberg the 847 codes which were linked to the old German literature (in addition to the 47 recovered in Paris), retaining all the others for the Vatican Library 23 .
The University of Heidelberg sent one of its professors, Friederich Wilken, to Rome to receive the codes and take care of their carriage.The librarian of the Vatican Library, who wanted to keep a few of the most valuable manuscripts, went as far as to suggest granting the German representative only the possibility to obtain a copy of them 24 .But the suggestion was not followed by the papal government.
During the time spent at the Vatican Library, professor Wilken found five other properties which were of the highest interest for the Palatine Library, namely four manuscripts in Latin on the history of the University of Heidelberg and the Otfridi Monachi Versio Quatuor Evangeliorum, which is a paraphrase of the Gospels in old German: La paraphrase rimée des Evangiles par le moine Otfried est un monument très estimé de l'ancienne langue allemande, très propre à en faire connaître et l'état primitif et les progrès de sa formation successive; mais il ne saurait être mis à profit qu'en Allemagne, le dialecte et l'ancien idiome dans lesquels cette paraphrase est composée et qui est l'idiome du temps des premiers successeurs de Charlemagne présentent des difficultés 23 «Ad onta per altro di tutto ciò, rilevando il S. Padre dagli uffici avanzati che S.M. pone la più grande importanza nel conseguire i preziosi codici e i famosi manoscritti che formano un raro monumento dell'antica letteratura tedesca, vuol darle una nuova prova del prezzo sommo che fa dei desideri della M.S., ed è pronto a farne un dono alla università di Heidelberga, o a qualunque altro corpo piaccia alla M.S. destinarli» (ibid., p. 78).
Professor Wilken, again supported by Austria and Prussia 26 , begged the Pope for an additional donation of the five properties in question.The Pope, despite the rarity of the five manuscripts, agreed to give another sign of his consideration for the two requesting powers and of his esteem for the University of Heidelberg 27 .This second aspect of the story of the Napoleonic removals confirms the birth of a trend towards the return of cultural properties and put emphasis on its ethical dimension.Objections based on the legal argument of the long time elapsed after the removal and on the practical argument of the possibility to make and return copies were disregarded.The need to preserve the integrity of cultural heritage in the context to which it was more closely linked was also upheld.

Canova's Journey to London
After his mission to Paris, Canova went to London, also to thank the British prince regent for his support.Here he had the opportunity to admire the Parthenon marbles that had been removed from Athens in 1801 by Thomas Bruce, Earl of Elgin.At that time, Lord Elgin was the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire, to which Athens belonged.The removal was effected on the basis of a firman (decree) by the Ottoman emperor.The text of the firman, of which only a coeval translation in Italian exists today, is not completely clear about the rights granted to Lord Elgin 28 .
When asked for an opinion, Canova advised the British government to purchase the marbles from Lord Elgin.What else could Canova, the most eminent neoclassical artist, have suggested with regard to a universal symbol of art, inherited from the classical age, and one of the cornerstones of European civilization?In 1816 the government purchased the marbles for £ 35,000 and donated them to the British Museum of London, where they are still exhibited today.Tullio Scovazzi Yet, at the time when the marbles were sold, another eminent artist, the English poet Lord Byron (1788-1824), was of a quite different opinion: I opposed, and will ever oppose, the robbery of ruins from Athens, to instruct the English in sculpture: but why did I do so?The ruins are as poetical in Piccadilly as they were in the Parthenon: but the Parthenon and its rock are less so without them 29 .
The case of the Parthenon marbles is today pending before the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to Its Countries of Origin or Its Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation between Greece, on the one side, and the United Kingdom and the British Museum, on the other.

Conclusions
Canova's mission is the first element of an evolutionary trend towards the return of removed cultural properties to their countries of origin that has greatly developed in the last years 30 .The trend is based on a number of principles that are located somewhere between morality and law and that can be instrumental in addressing shortcomings of multilateral treaties in force regarding the return of cultural properties, namely the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Properties (Paris, 1970) and the UNIDROIT (International Institute for the Unification of Private Law) Convention on Stolen or Illegally Exported Cultural Objects (Rome, 1995), in particular their non-retroactive character and the fact that they can create rights and obligations only for the States parties.
The principles in question include the principle of non-exploitation of the weakness of another for cultural gain, which applies to situations of persecution, war, colonial domination, foreign occupation or to situations involving indigenous peoples.Also included is the principle of preservating the integrity of cultural contexts, which is deeply rooted in the nature of cultural heritage.Other principles, having a procedural nature, relate to international co-operation against illegal movements of cultural properties and to international co-operation in settling disputes regarding the return of cultural properties.
In order to reach an equitable solution for each particular case, all the relevant circumstances which play either in favour of the State of origin of cultural properties or in favour of the State of their destination should be balanced.These circumstances could include the factors surrounding the removal of the cultural property from the State of origin, in particular the substantive injustice of the removal, the importance of the cultural property for the State of origin, in particular its emblematic character, the harm to the integrity of the cultural context from which the cultural property was removed, the amount of time since the cultural property was removed from the State of origin, the appreciation for and the care used to preserve the cultural property by the State of destination, as well as the State of origin's commitment to appreciate and care for cultural property if it is returned to it.In attempting to reach an equitable resolution of the cases, the States Parties concerned should envisage means of co-operation in the field of cultural properties in general, such as loans, temporary exhibitions, joint activities of excavation, research or restoration. 3
This is the reason why the treaties concluded by France with defeated countries in Italy, such as those with the Papal State (Armistice of Bologna of 5 Messidor IV / 23 June 1796 3 and Peace Treaty of Tolentino of 1st Ventôse V / 19 February 1797 4 ) and others 5 , Etat etc., 2 nd ed.Paris, 1834, p. 305.See, in general, POMMIER, E. L'art de la liberté -Doctrines et débats de la Révolution française.Paris, 1991.
26See the 27 Letters of 9