Relic recovery verdict sets legal precedent
Editor’s note: On Tuesday, Dutch architect Oscar van Overeem, who claims to have bought the Zhang Gong Patriarch — an ancient Buddha statue containing the mummified remains of a famous monk — was ordered by the Fujian Provincial High People’s Court to return the stolen relic to its original owners. Will Van Overeem obey the court’s order and return the statue from the Song Dynasty (960-1279) to the villagers of Yangchun and Dongpu in Fujian? Two experts share their views on the issue with China Daily’s Yao Yuxin. Excerpts follow:
Move more than symbolic despite difficulties
Being the first verdict by a Chinese court on the recovery of stolen historical artifacts from another country, the judgment sets a legal precedent. But it is uncertain whether it will be recognized and enforced in the Netherlands.
Normally, a judgment passed by any court in a country is applicable only within the territory of that country, unless there is an international treaty or reciprocity provision between two countries to recognize and enforce each other’s court verdicts.
There are two factors that could hinder the verdicts. First, there is no such treaty between China and the Netherlands. Second, the Netherlands’ laws don’t admit a village committee as a legal entity, so the village committee is not ineligible to file a claim. That’s why a Dutch court dismissed a suit in 2018.
However, even if a Dutch court rejects its validity, the Fujian court’s ruling will remain legally significant. To begin with, since the Chinese court has ruled that the Buddha statue belongs to Yangchun and Dongpu villagers, it will be difficult for Van Overeem to sell it because collectors, aware of the dispute, may not buy it, prompting the Dutch collector to consider returning it to its owners.
The recovery of a historical artifact from another country is difficult in practice, partly because of the weak enforcement mechanism for international treaties among states and the limited number of signatory countries. The inconsistency in the laws of different countries, too, is a big obstacle. For instance, China and the Netherlands disagree on whether the village committee has legal status. That means it is hard to recover relics using just legal means.
The law of the forum, known in Latin as the lex fori, applies to international civil litigation — or litigation for or against foreign parties, including individuals and busiare nesses — and can help a court in one country to determine the legal entity of a party in another country. In fact, courts in some countries, such as the United Kingdom, do take the laws of the plaintiffs’ countries into consideration when dealing with relic recovery cases.
Hopefully, more such legal precedents will be set so the existing obstacles to recovering cultural relics removed.
Huo Zhengxin, a professor at the School of International Law, China University of Political Science and Law
Love for deity, quest for justice commendable
The international community agrees that cultural and historical relics should be protected in situ and therefore returned (by the country where they currently are) to the country of origin. Otherwise, the relics will lose luster of their historical and cultural value.
The theft of the Buddha statue was a big blow to the villagers of Yangchun and Dongpu, but they kept looking for it for two decades till it was found at an exhibition in Budapest, capital of Hungary, in 2015.
It is commendable that the villagers resorted to legal means to recover their beloved Zhang Gong Patriarch. They have not only won the case in court but also drawn the attention and sympathy of the world.
Yet it is still too early to celebrate. Due to the different legal and judicial systems of China and the Netherlands, the Chinese court’s verdict may not be enough to force the collector to return the statue to the villagers. More than 10 million pieces of Chinese artifacts are lying in museums or private collectors abroad. Some were sold and some looted. But the increasing number of returned relics, especially valuable ones, in recent years shows China’s determination to protect its cultural heritage, which will help boost the Chinese people’s cultural confidence.