“One, No One and One Hundred Thousand”. The legal notion(s) of cultural property

Although the protection of cultural property has been acknowledged as a paramount need in the majority of legal systems, a single and internationally agreed upon notion of cultural property still does not exist. Currently, each legal instrument at the international, supranational and domestic level adopts a different definition, which is specifically tailored to suit its own purposes according to the different interests at stake. Through a crosscutting analysis of the definitional techniques and criteria used to identify the object of legal protection, this research demonstrates how the notion(s) of cultural property may vary, determines which factors primarily promote this elasticity and delves into the practical implications on the regime of protection. The overall purpose is to show why the legal notion of cultural property is important and to question about whether or not it is desirable to have one general definition suitable for a variety of contexts. In this respect, the research is divided in five chapters. Chapter I explores the terminology issue, revisiting the key concepts that often appear in legislation and literature, and draws attention to the functionality of the notion, seeking to highlight the multiplicity of interests that are involved. Chapter II provides an overview of the historical and normative evolution of the notion in the last sixty years within the international and supranational framework. Chapter III investigates the main legal techniques and criteria used to identify the eligible property, drawing on some of the most relevant definitions as formulated in international conventions, supranational agreements and domestic legislations as illustrative examples. Through the analysis of three case studies, Chapter IV examines some of the issues that might be raised by the adoption and the implementation of a given definition of cultural property. These findings will be ultimately used in the Conclusions to raise a more general reflection about the legal notion of cultural property, its limits and possible frontiers, as well as to highlight its main practical implications.