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Museum collections

Reviewing the law relating to how museums hold objects in their collections.

Problem (Back to top)

Museums face significant problems dealing with objects where legal title is uncertain or the owners are unknown or cannot be found. This problem arises as a result of poor acquisition records, which date from a time when record keeping did not meet modern standards. Dealing with such objects – for example transferring them to other museums or ethically disposing of them – may expose museums to the risk of being found liable for a civil wrong (conversion) if the museum was not in fact entitled to deal with the object.

Local authorities that are responsible for running museums also 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 the authorisation of the Secretary of State.

We have also been told of other concerns regarding museum collections.

Project (Back to top)

This project was included in our 13th Programme of Law Reform.

This project will review the problems museums face in dealing with objects 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 would have a better understanding of what can and cannot be done with their donation. Similarly, those responsible for museum collections would 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 value.

Next steps

We expect to begin this work in mid-2025.

The project will start with a consideration of the scope of our work, including agreeing the terms of reference for the project with Government. We will set out the scope of the project in more detail once it has been established.

We are interested in hearing from stakeholders with views about what the project should focus on and issues that museums are facing. Our contact details are below. Once we have begun our work, we will also meet with stakeholders to understand their experiences and help us formulate our proposals for reform, which we will then publish in a consultation paper.

Documents (Back to top)

There are no documents published as part of this project currently.

Updates (Back to top)

There are no updates on this project currently.

Contact (Back to top)

Contact us if you have any queries about this project or if you would like to be added to our stakeholder list so that you receive updates about the project.

Email: museums@lawcommission.gov.uk