Overlawyered » antiquities http://overlawyered.com Chronicling the high cost of our legal system Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:11:47 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 State Department restricts imports of Greek coins http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/state-department-restricts-imports-of-greek-coins/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/state-department-restricts-imports-of-greek-coins/#comments Wed, 07 Dec 2011 05:16:30 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=26156 It’s another big step forward for the notion of “cultural patrimony,” in this case humoring the whims of foreign governments that wish to suppress private ownership of long-collected everyday antiquities. [Peter Tompa/Cultural Property Observer; my take]

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/12/state-department-restricts-imports-of-greek-coins/feed/ 3 Antiquities law ensnares coin collectors http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/antiquities-law-ensnares-coin-collectors/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/antiquities-law-ensnares-coin-collectors/#comments Wed, 24 Aug 2011 13:34:22 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24294 As I note at Cato, antiquities law has been expanding to restrict private ownership of more and more ancient artifacts. The latest targets are numismatists; more on that in an op-ed that I published last week in the Examiner.

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/08/antiquities-law-ensnares-coin-collectors/feed/ 4 Prison for unauthorized use of “Smokey Bear” image http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/prison-for-unauthorized-use-of-smokey-bear-image/ http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/prison-for-unauthorized-use-of-smokey-bear-image/#comments Tue, 26 Jul 2011 05:17:20 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=24019 Great WSJ article on the unending proliferation of federal crimes, with appearances by a family that ran into a law making it a felony to dig for arrowheads on federal land, Bobby Unser and his snowmobile-astray ordeal, and a man effectively ruined by the $860,000+ cost of successfully defending himself against a federal charge of violating Russian hunting regulations.

“Most people think criminal law is for bad people,” says Timothy Lynch of Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank. People don’t realize “they’re one misstep away from the nightmare of a federal indictment.”

More: from Tim Lynch, and (via PoL) Josh Blackman, William Anderson/Regulation mag.

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2011/07/prison-for-unauthorized-use-of-smokey-bear-image/feed/ 13 Timeless mysteries of rights-assertion: images of Stonehenge http://overlawyered.com/2010/10/timeless-mysteries-of-rights-assertion-images-of-stonehenge/ http://overlawyered.com/2010/10/timeless-mysteries-of-rights-assertion-images-of-stonehenge/#comments Thu, 21 Oct 2010 05:20:35 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=19782 “English Heritage claims it owns every single image of Stonehenge, ever” [Cory Doctorow, BoingBoing, TechDirt]

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2010/10/timeless-mysteries-of-rights-assertion-images-of-stonehenge/feed/ 3 “A Case in Antiquities for ‘Finders Keepers’” http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/a-case-in-antiquities-for-finders-keepers/ http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/a-case-in-antiquities-for-finders-keepers/#comments Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:12:56 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=14806 John Tierney at the Times makes the case against heritage repatriation laws.

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2009/11/a-case-in-antiquities-for-finders-keepers/feed/ 0 “Whatever is Greek, wherever in the world, we want back.” http://overlawyered.com/2008/05/%e2%80%9cwhatever-is-greek-wherever-in-the-world-we-want-back%e2%80%9d/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/05/%e2%80%9cwhatever-is-greek-wherever-in-the-world-we-want-back%e2%80%9d/#comments Tue, 27 May 2008 15:39:55 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/?p=7051 Why does the idea of cultural property have so many advocates? “It seems to establish a bulwark against the plunder of antiquities.” And yet how quickly it’s turned into a way of looting premodern artifacts from Western owners whose claim of title is stronger than that of foreign governments or indigenous/Indian tribes. “But if cultural property really did exist, the Enlightenment museum would be an example of it: an institution that evolved, almost uniquely, out of Western civilization. And the cultural property movement could be seen as a persistent attempt to undermine it. And take illicit possession.” (Edward Rothstein, “Antiquities, the World Is Your Homeland”, New York Times, May 27).

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2008/05/%e2%80%9cwhatever-is-greek-wherever-in-the-world-we-want-back%e2%80%9d/feed/ 2 “Who Owns Antiquity?” http://overlawyered.com/2008/04/who-owns-antiquity/ http://overlawyered.com/2008/04/who-owns-antiquity/#comments Sun, 27 Apr 2008 00:08:13 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/wpblog/?p=6150 About time someone stood up to the demands against Western museums and collectors for repatriation of “cultural patrimony” lawfully obtained at the time (Eric Ormsby, “Treasures on Trial” (review of new James Cuno book), WSJ, Apr. 26; Kerry Howley, Reason “Hit and Run”, Apr. 24; earlier coverage).

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2008/04/who-owns-antiquity/feed/ 5 Egypt wants to copyright pyramids, Sphinx http://overlawyered.com/2007/12/egypt-wants-to-copyright-pyramids-sphinx/ http://overlawyered.com/2007/12/egypt-wants-to-copyright-pyramids-sphinx/#comments Fri, 28 Dec 2007 09:52:51 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/wpblog/?p=5684 Under the proposed law, backed by Supreme Council of Antiquities chief Zahi Hawass, persons around the world would be forbidden to sphinxbycaviglia.jpg make copies, even for private use, of the country’s famous monuments, scarabs and other Pharaonic survivals. “His comments came only a few days after an Egyptian opposition newspaper, Al-Wafd, published a report complaining that many more tourists each year travelled to the pyramid-shaped Luxor hotel in Las Vegas than to Luxor itself. The newspaper proposed that the US hotel should pay some of its profits to Luxor city.” However, Hawass said that copies of pyramids and other objects that were less than “exact” might escape a royalty obligation, which might get the back of the U.S. one dollar bill off the hook. (Rory McCarthy, “Egypt to copyright the pyramids and antiquities”, Guardian, Dec. 27; “Egypt to copyright pyramids”, AFP/Google, Dec. 26; AP/IHT). More: Coleman.

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2007/12/egypt-wants-to-copyright-pyramids-sphinx/feed/ 5 Eyesore preservation http://overlawyered.com/2007/12/eyesore-preservation/ http://overlawyered.com/2007/12/eyesore-preservation/#comments Wed, 19 Dec 2007 00:29:37 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/wpblog/?p=5664 The brutalist-modern Third Church of Christ Scientist is one of the most widely disliked buildings in Washington, D.C., not least by its own congregation, which groans at the impracticalities of maintaining the concrete monstrosity: “According to one church official, you’ve got to build scaffolding just to reach some of the [light] bulbs [to change them].” But Washington’s local architectural-preservation authorities forbid the congregants from replacing the building, which dates all the way back to 1971. (Charles Paul Freund, “A Brutalist Bargain”, American Spectator, Dec. 18).

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]]> http://overlawyered.com/2007/12/eyesore-preservation/feed/ 3 December 5 roundup http://overlawyered.com/2007/12/december-5-roundup/ http://overlawyered.com/2007/12/december-5-roundup/#comments Wed, 05 Dec 2007 07:46:27 +0000 Walter Olson http://overlawyered.com/wpblog/?p=5610
  • Fear of “retribution” and “legal action” among reasons docs don’t report hazardous colleagues and conditions [WaPo on new Annals of Internal Medicine study]

  • Judge rips Milberg for high Chiron fee proposal, questions Skadden’s conflict [The Recorder]

  • Felony murder rule is an American exception with results that can be hard to defend [Liptak, NYT]

  • UK: “Man broke girlfriend’s leg in damages fraud” [Times Online]

  • Often driven by defensive medicine, CAT scans may pose their own risks to patients who undergo them [Newsday on NEJM study]

  • Commentator is glad post offices are lawyering up their Operation Santa gift programs [McDonough, CalLaw LegalPad; earlier; possibly related]

  • Quebec judge nixes suit by Concordia University mass murderer against former colleagues [Canadian Press]

  • Update on Kennewick man and Indian-remains legislation [WashTimes; earlier]

  • Magic of compound interest? Uncollected 1977 award for victim of Evel Knievel attack said to have mounted by now to $100 million [AP/Yahoo]

  • School discipline now a heavily lawyer-driven affair [Charleston Post & Courier courtesy Common Good]

  • Complaint: Cleveland housing authority should have done more renovations to accommodate extremely obese tenant [four years ago on Overlawyered]

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