Two proposals for law reform relating to museum collections to the Law Commission form part of the Law Commission’s Thirteenth Programme of Law Reform 2017 (Law Com, No 377).
The programme notes that museums face significant problems dealing with objects where, as result of poor or non-existent acquisition records legal title is uncertain or the owners are unknown or cannot be found. Museums are concerned about dealing with such objects (e.g. transferring them to other museums) because of the risk of being found liable for a civil wrong if they were not in fact entitled to do so. Local authority run museums face problems managing items in their collections due to a lack of clarity as to how – at law – such items are held and when they can be legitimately (and ethically) disposed of. Certain national museums can only dispose of items following an arguably unnecessary process requiring the authorisation of the Secretary of State.
This project will review these problems with a view to providing clear legal rules as to how objects are held and can be dealt with. Such rules would help to reassure potential donors, who will have a better understanding of what can and cannot be done with their donation. Similarly, those responsible for museum collections will be able to manage their collections more effectively without having first to seek expensive, specialist legal advice to ascertain the applicable legal rules, or incur unnecessary storage costs for items that have no continuing heritage.