Riding the wind of rebirth

Chapter 1495 Legal Principles

Unfortunately, China has not yet joined these two conventions, so it is very difficult to recover cultural relics internationally.

Even if they join, these two conventions are actually just two documents under UNESCO. They are just a large framework with many complex legal difficulties underneath.

Many people who do not understand the legal framework believe that cultural relics flowing out of China should be returned to the motherland. This can only be said to be a beautiful vision. In practice, it is almost impossible.

First of all, the treaty only binds the contracting states, and countries other than the contracting states are not bound by the treaty; secondly, the private law rules of various countries usually give the possessors of cultural relics the right to obtain in good faith and to defend against statute of limitations. For cultural relics obtained through the open market or that have been lost for a long time, the original owner’s It is difficult to protect rights and interests; the third is the difficulty of proof. The complaining party needs to prove that the outflow of cultural relics is "illegal possession" in the legal sense.

Take the 1970 Convention, for example. It only stipulates that contracting states return stolen cultural relics from public institutions. However, for stolen cultural relics from non-public institutions, the convention stipulates that contracting parties should determine whether to accept stolen cultural relics based on domestic legal provisions. Action for restitution.

Therefore, judicial relief for such cultural relics actually depends on the domestic law of the contracting state.

For example, most of the Chinese cultural relics stolen by the Eight-Power Allied Forces came from the Forbidden City and the Old Summer Palace. According to the framework of the 1970 Convention, it was difficult to define whether these two places were "public institutions" or "non-public institutions" at the time.

Secondly, even if it is deemed as "stolen collections from public institutions", it is only applicable to British law. China has to appeal to the British court to claim it back, and the final decision must be made by a British judge.

To put it bluntly, the two currently legally binding international conventions on the protection and recourse of cultural relics cannot bind the rights and interests of the stolen parties at all to those Chinese cultural relics, Egyptian cultural relics, and Iraqi cultural relics in the British Museum. Certainly!

Therefore, if you want to recover those lost cultural relics through legal means, it is called seeking fish by chance.

"So there's nothing we can do about it, right?" When Zhou Zhi, Lin Wanqiu, and Li Laosan were discussing this matter, they were so angry that they even cursed.

"Divide things into objects and objects!" Li Laosan was somewhat dissatisfied with Zhou Zhi's attitude: "We are all adults, so don't look at the problem from a child's perspective. It's useless to just make trouble. It's more about finding a solution. "

"In fact, it is beneficial to join these two conventions." Lin Wanqiu said: "I have decided to put this forward as a motion at the meeting."

I almost forgot that this person is still a national representative and is qualified to make proposals: "Even if we can't recover what was lost in the past, we can still save the future. For example, in the case of the theft of Bronze Dunes like the Qu Yuan Memorial Hall, within the framework of the Convention, we can To pursue effective recourse.”

"There are other ways." Li Laosan is familiar with international rules: "That is to sign a bilateral agreement, which is also legally binding."

"What do you mean?"

"It's cooperation between countries." Li Laosan explained: "You don't necessarily have to count on the United Nations. For example, between China and Japan, between China and the United States, and between China and the United Kingdom, separate bilateral cooperation agreements can be signed to jointly Sign a crime prevention agreement.”

"Yes, it is absolutely possible to sign an agreement between the two countries to prevent the theft, excavation and illegal entry and exit of cultural relics. The two parties agree on diplomatic negotiations, international law enforcement cooperation, civil litigation, consultation, donations, commercial buy-backs, third-party mediation, etc. regarding the recovery of cultural relics. Lin Wanqiu was inspired, and simply put down her coffee cup, pulled up a document on her notebook, and started typing: "There are also cross-border circulation management mechanisms for cultural relics that need to be restrained, for cross-border lending or exhibitions. Regarding the issue of cultural relic immunity during cooperative research, the ownership of the cultural relics by the country of origin of the cultural relics should be fully considered, and based on this extension, the country’s right not to grant immunity to stolen or illegally exported cultural relics.”

"This is good. Not only sales, but also non-trading transfers should also be taken into consideration." Zhou Zhi admired Lin Wanqiu's clear thinking: "Illegal exports cannot be carried out under the guise of cultural heritage exchanges and cooperation, and civilizational exchanges and mutual learning. "And the truth of circulation." "Actually, I think we can add something more."

"what?"

"I'm talking from the perspective of the original meaning of law." Li Laosan said: "Law has an important meaning, which is to promote the realization of social value goals."

"It is that it itself must be able to promote society's pursuit of specific value goals, such as equality, justice, and public welfare."

"In this sense, for those cultural relics that were plundered overseas during the war, even if it is difficult to describe the loss process through evidence and the original criminals cannot be found, for those cultural relics, their origins are illegal Sex', there is no doubt about it."

"From this perspective, even if the cultural relics were stolen and illegally exported before the Convention came into effect, our country should still retain the right to take them back. We should also unite with many victimized countries to regard the 'legitimacy' of the source of cultural relics as the ownership of lost cultural relics. standards, analyze them from this perspective, and strive to make them a consensus of the international community.”

"Because from the original meaning of the law, this is an important measure to maintain social justice." Li Laosan said: "This is why the source of huge amounts of property is unknown and it is also a crime."

"Wonderful!" Zhou Zhi sneered at Li Laosan's shallow cultural knowledge during this trip, thinking that he was a standard nine-league fish, but now he couldn't help but look at it with admiration: "If we look at it from this perspective, what about the cultural relics that were lost before joining the convention? , we can at least retain the right of recourse, right?”

"Okay! I'll add this one too." Lin Wanqiu also nodded in approval.

·

·

·

There is no such thing as a banquet that lasts forever. When the ship arrived in Yuzhou, it was time to part ways again.

Although the three girls were studying in Shanghai at the mouth of the Yangtze River, they still had to come back and take the bus. For no other reason than Yuzhou, it was best to buy sleeper tickets.

There are more and more people doing business now. When Zhou Zhi went to get tickets, he found that the office was overcrowded, all of them were doing business.

As everyone returns to school, director Jiang Chunlian is extremely busy, but he still asks Zhou Zhi why Fang Wenyu didn't come.

Fang Wenyu originally studied in Yuzhou, and often came here to play on weekends when he had nothing to do. Fang's parents sent things to their children, and now they mainly asked someone to bring them directly to the office, and then called Fang Wenyu to ask him to come and pick them up.

Nowadays, although the postal service also has the function of delivering express delivery, it is too expensive based on weight and distance. Asking someone to bring the package to the office is almost the same as the Jiachuan children who are studying in Sichuan and Chongqing. Now they can receive express delivery from home by chance. the only way.

Of course Jiang Chunlian would remember a handsome guy like Fang Wenyu who was good at learning, but there was no reason to ask about him in particular.

(End of this chapter)