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The legal arguments for the return of the Parthenon Marbles

If you talk to a group of lawyers who believe the return of the Elgin Marbles could be brought about by legal action (as I have done), and each one that you talk to will have a different idea of exactly how it can be achieved – in terms of which court, which jurisdiction, and which points form the basis of the case. One fact remains though – Italy argued for a long time with many of the big US museums for the return of looted artefacts – but only started to see any results once they had initiated legal proceedings against them. Whether or not legal action is aimed at winning the case in court, it can be a powerful tool for bringing people to the negotiating table with a more serious mindset – taking the case seriously rather than ignoring it in the hope that it will go away.

This new book by Greek Australian lawyer Kathryn-Magnolia Feeley gives her perspective on the legal issues involved.

From:
Greek Reporter [1]

Feeley’s Legal Argument For the Return of the Greek Marbles
By Stella Tsolakidou on October 13, 2012 in News

Australian lawyer Kathryn-Magnolia Feeley offers her own approach to the issue of the return of the Parthenon Marbles from London to Athens. Her ideas will be officially launched Oct. 14 during her book presentation in Canberra.

The author of “How The Greeks Can Get Their Marbles Back- the legal argument for the return of the Parthenon Marbles ” is an expert on human rights law and has worked as an archaeologist in Greece before taking up her lawyer profession.

According to Feeley, the UK will never agree to give the Marbles back for plainly cultural reasons. “A gesture like this would bring all museums of the world upside down” explained Feeley. For the author, arguments concerning the cultural heritage should be left aside and replaced by the legal argument that these monuments are connected to the Greek people – in both spiritual and religious ways – since their creation in antiquity.

Kathryn-Magnolia Feeley explains the whole legal procedures needed to be launched by Greek ex-pats living in different EU countries in order to win their case.

From:
Smashwords [2]

How the Greeks can get their Marbles back
By Kathryn-Magnolia Feeley
Rating: Not yet rated.
Published: Oct. 07, 2012
Words: 46281 (approximate)
Language: English
ISBN: 9781301601264

Short description
The Legal Argument For The Return Of The Parthenon Marbles To Greece

Extended description
All legal cases that have resulted in the actual return of ancient artefacts had fundamentally two issues in common. Firstly, there is a particular person or identified group that has a claim on the artefacts and secondly, those artefacts are of continuous religious significance to that particular person or identified group. The person or identified group (a Greek person or persons) belongs to the Greek Orthodox Church.

Since Greece and England are part of the European Union, the applicant/s to the European Court of Human Rights would need to be Greek/s living in the European Union in the event of an application to the International Court of Human Rights. The applicant/s must be aggrieved because of the British desecration of Greek religious artefacts that have proven significance to the present day Greek Orthodox Church. This book proves a continuous religious connection from the Parthenon Marbles to the present day Greek Orthodox Church.