ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the state practices related to the return of cultural heritage illicitly trafficked during peacetime. It outlines the problems in enforcing foreign state ownership laws and export laws. Following this is an examination of the relevant laws supporting the return of such objects at both the international and regional levels, which serve as a catalyst for individual market states to return stolen and illegally exported cultural objects. The chapter then continues to analyse the law and practices in the important market states, including the US, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the UK, to analyse whether their state practices reflect an increasing recognition that stolen and illegally exported heritage should be returned. It provides a brief outline of the emerging rules that are increasingly being used or suggested in the return of cultural heritage. The evolving international and European legal instruments reflect the recognition that illegally removed cultural heritage should be returned.
