Conflict Regulation of Cultural Property

The purpose of this thesis research is to determine the most balanced conflict regulation approach to legal relations concerning cultural property from the point of view of the source and market states, as well as true owners and bona fide purchasers to stop using the art market for cultural enrichment of some countries at the expense of others, and ultimately to ensure the stability and legal certainty of international circulation of cultural property. The research begins with the study of various approaches to the definition of the concept of "cultural property" and some related concepts. Afterwards, the paper provides a comparative analysis of the current state of conflict-of-laws regulation of cultural property in Russian law and that of certain foreign countries. The research concludes with a review of current conflict-of-laws issues that arise when considering transnational disputes about cultural property. The analysis of conflict-of-laws regulation of cultural property and the consequences of existing legal pluralism demonstrates the critical lack of uniform rules, as well as social and legal factors that hinder the harmonization of legal regulation. The paper also substantiates the need to develop lex culturalis as a complex set of rules aimed at establishing legal uniformity by highlighting the unique nature of cultural property and excluding the application of ordinary rules of private international law to legal disputes concerning cultural property. As a result of the research work the author has selected and analyzed throroughly the key approaches to conflict-of-laws issues related to cultural property in the international commercial turnover, identified the main troublesome issues when considering cross-border disputes on cultural property and proposed possible solutions.