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Purchase or plunder? A clear case for Scottish court to decide

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Published Date: 06 August 2008
By JOHN K HUNTLEY
LET'S go to Fife to see the Parthenon Marbles. We might have done, had Thomas Bruce had his way. The seventh Lord Elgin "acquired" them for his new mansion at Broomhall. Grand designs for a grand man.
Instead, we can see them in London's British Museum, which "acquired" the "Elgin" Marbles in 1816.

A new museum in Athens will open this autumn to house all the Parthenon Marbles – including the "Elgin" Marbles, if the British Museum repatriates t...



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  • Last Updated: 05 August 2008 9:01 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
 
1

Thomas J,

Dunfermline 07/08/2008 14:54:51
Professor John A K Huntley’s suggestion (Scotsman article 06 Aug) that Scotland’s justice system is the appropriate one for determining the legality of the purchase of the Parthenon and other marbles from the 7th Earl of Elgin is debateable.

I agree however that there can be no doubt that the marbles are booty. Elgin lied about the “firman” to Westminster in 1816. This was proved by Prof. D Rudenstine, Dean of the Cardozo School of Law. This and other discrepancies with the firman (which has never been seen) mean that the marbles were fraudulently obtained, and sold.

As fraud nullifies everything the marbles bought by Westminster were stolen goods.
That said, the body charged with righting this wrong is the buyer, the Westminster Government, and the person within that body responsible for such matters is the Commissioner for Standards. Complaint should be made to him.

Are we not constantly urged to report suspected criminality? In 2004 I complained to the then Chief of Fife Constabulary, Peter Wilson, that the British Museum hold booty in the form of the Parthenon Marbles and the residents of Broomhall in Fife were in possession of Greek stelae (gravestones) sacrilegiously taken from various sites. Needless to say this complaint did not receive a serious response.

Given Professor Huntley’s latest claims, I will make fresh approaches to Fife’s new Chief Constable, Norma Graham, on the same terms as my 2004 complaint, in the hope that a review can be carried out by her. Then it will be for the police to decide if there is prima facie case of a crime as I claim.

If the police agree with me—and Professors Rudenstine, Huntley, and most right-minded people—that there was theft, it will be for them to decide which prosecuting body (north or south of the border) would be best suited to deal with the various stolen stones.

Perhaps Professor Huntley might follow my example and involve his local police force (Strathclyde?) in an investigation into
2

Thomas J,

Dunfermline 07/08/2008 14:56:44
contd: the stolen marbles.

That force may be well suited for this task if they are, as rumoured, no strangers in maters relating to masonry.

 

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