Legal History & Cultural Memory

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Legal History and Cultural Memory is about the in-depth investigation of the past, for its own sake, on its own terms and in its own right.

Yet, having done so, we should contemplate going further: we should also reflect on how past experience can provide a critical lens on the choices we make today.

This theme spans a number of diverse areas: the history of copyright, trade marks, performers’ rights, competition law, legal historical methods and sources, as well as the history of cultural objects, cultural heritage law, legal issues impacting on the galleries, libraries, archives and museums (‘GLAM’) sectors, and the current set of laws, policies and norms shaping the preservation, access to and use of our cultural memories.

This theme is co-led by Elena Cooper and Bartolomeo Meletti. Please read our earlier blog post for a more detailed introduction or watch a short video.

PROJECTS

Painting and Copyright in the Nineteenth CenturyProject: Legal History & Cultural MemoryPainting and Copyright in the Nineteenth Century
14 January 2026

Painting and Copyright in the Nineteenth Century

The nineteenth century is significant both to art history – as the ‘golden age’ of the living painter – and…
Anton J. Benjamin announcements from Salon OrchesterProjectProject: Legal History & Cultural MemoryMusic for the Salon OR Who owns a melody?
7 May 2025

Music for the Salon OR Who owns a melody?

This project explores music publishing practices during the late 19th and early 20th century, with a focus on the Salon genre. The…
image of the specimen of the Jamaican Giant Galliwasp, held at the Natural History Museum of JamaicaProject: Legal History & Cultural MemoryFrom Scotland to the World: Repatriation and Museums
13 January 2025

From Scotland to the World: Repatriation and Museums

In recent years, a number of UK museums have repatriated artefacts and ancestral remains to a range of countries and…
Back of a woman's head who is holding the Beyond Lady Eden painting.Project: Legal History & Cultural MemoryInterpreting Donor Restrictions: Going Beyond Whistler’s Portrait of Lady Eden
13 January 2025

Interpreting Donor Restrictions: Going Beyond Whistler’s Portrait of Lady Eden

Public and scholarly access to art may be limited, sometimes in perpetuity, by restrictions imposed by donors of artworks on…
Project: Legal History & Cultural MemoryProject: Public DomainDigitization and intellectual property rights in EU place-making
22 April 2021

Digitization and intellectual property rights in EU place-making

This project explores digitization strategies, and the circulation of digitized creativity, by public and non-public bodies to promote innovation and…
Project: Competition & MarketsProject: Legal History & Cultural MemoryThe gatekeeping of art
22 April 2021

The gatekeeping of art

This study proposes a historical perspective on gatekeeper power to restrict competition, with consequences for innovation, consumer welfare and the…
Logos - Leverhulme and University of GlasgowProject: Legal History & Cultural MemoryProject: Public DomainIntellectual Property and Criminalisation: An Historical Perspective
23 February 2021

Intellectual Property and Criminalisation: An Historical Perspective

Intellectual property (‘IP’) is thought to be the domain of civil rather than criminal law. Recent years, however, have seen…