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Holocaust Art Disputes: The Holocaust Expropriated Art Recovery Act Of 2016, Herbert I. Lazerow

Faculty Scholarship

The Holocaust Expropriated Recovery Act of 2016 (HEAR) purports to extend the statute of limitations for actions to recover art and certain other items stolen during the Holocaust. The new statute of limitations would be either the old statute or a six-years-from-actual-discovery statute, whichever is longer. This article analyzes the likely results of that law. It sets forth the problems leading to HEAR’s enactment, including the typical parties to these controversies, the informational difficulties confronting both claimants and purchasers of art, and the elements of recovery suits, and discusses the functions of statutes of limitations and adverse possession and prescription. …

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Ownership And Possession, Thomas W. Merrill

Faculty Scholarship

One of the enduring mysteries about property is why the law protects both ownership and possession. In a pre-modern world, with low rates of literacy and no formal method of registering titles, one can understand why the law would protect possession. In such a world, there may be no concept of property beyond the understanding that persons should respect possessory rights established by others. It is less clear why possession should be protected once property comes to be understood as ownership. Ownership and possession will commonly overlap, and protecting ownership will protect possession. Nevertheless, even in the most sophisticated legal …

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