The Statue of Limitations and Recovery of Artworks, by Judith Wallace
http://www.artnet.com/magazineus/news/spencer/spencers-art-law-journal-2-3-12.aspEditors Note
This is Volume 2, Issue No. 3 of Spencer's Art Law Journal. This issue contains a single essay, which will become available by posting on Artnet, January 2012. Volume 3, Issue No. 1 will appear in Spring 2012
As noted in earlier volumes of this Journal, art law is an amalgam of personal property law, contract, estate, tax and intellectual property law relating to the acquisition, retention and disposition of fine art.
The essay in this issue will tee-up the question of how bona fide purchasers and other owners (donees, heirs and the like) can lose possession and title to the "true" original owner. Answers to some of the questions posed by this essay may come from the New York Court of Appeals later in 2012
Three times a year issues of this Journal will address legal questions of practical significance to collectors, dealers, scholars and the general art-minded public.
-- RDS
For inquiries or comments, please contact the editor, Ronald D. Spencer, at Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP, 2 Wall Street, New York, N.Y. 10005, by telephone at (212) 238-8737, or at
spencer@clm.comIF THE EXPIRATION OF THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS BARS YOU FROM RECOVERING YOUR ART FROM THE CURRENT HOLDER, WHEN THE CURRENT HOLDER SELLS CAN YOU, NEVERTHELESS, RECOVER YOUR ART FROM THE BUYER? AND, ANYWAY, WHEN DID THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS BEGIN TO RUN AGAINST YOU?
Judith Wallace
This brief essay offers an introduction into the circumstances whereby, under New York law, a good faith purchaser for value or a donee of a gift of art might lose possession (and, effectively ownership) of that art based on an ownership claim of the true (original) owner
-- RDS
Judith Wallace practices art law and environmental law at Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP and has assisted collectors, artists, foundations and scholars in title and authenticity disputes in state and federal courts.
Many are aware that one can lose (or gain) ownership of real property by occupying and using land openly and under a claim of right for 10 years.(FN1) Where real property is concerned, there is a public policy that favors use of land, and under certain circumstances, the law rewards misappropriation if it is sufficiently blatant and persists long enough.
Personal property, however, is treated differently than real property. If personal property has not been transferred or abandoned by the true owner, can a misappropriation ever give rise to legal title after the passage of enough time, simply because the statute of limitations (three years in New York, far shorter than the decade required for adverse possession) has expired? If so, what is required? Just as there are special rules for real property, are there also public policy concerns relating to fine art that are reflected in the law? If so, what are they?
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