Jessica Schubert writes that the Gurlitt case demonstrated the lack of clear guidelines and mechanisms for how the matter would proceed and on what basis the property ownership issues would be resolved. In the USA the existing legal framework has failed victims of the Nazi regime by allowing their art to find its way into museums instead of being returned to its owners. These issues hightlight the necessity to reform the current legal framework in order to more effectively promote the commitments made by the US through the Washington Principles and to create a framework based on the principles of equity and fairness.
Jessica Schubert is an attorney and author. She obtained her J.D. from Touro Law Centre and served on the editorial board of the Touro Law Review as an Articles Editor. After working as a government attorney and in private practice for fourteen years, the author now writes and provides counsel to artists and institutions. She has been involved in Holocaust studies relating to art, cultural objects and law since studying them in college and frequently features these issues on her blog, ARTSLAWYERBLOG, available at www.artslawyerblog.com.
Touro Law Review Vol. 30, No. 3, Article 10