writing | Paul P. Stewens

2026

The Legal Classification of Hominin Fossils: Lessons from the Broken Hill Skull

Paul P. Stewens

International Journal of Heritage Studies, May 2026

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Since 2018, the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation has been discussing the case of the Broken Hill skull. Discovered in 1921, this Homo heidelbergensis skull sits in the Natural History Museum in London, although Zambia claims that it belonged to an ancestor and should be repatriated as such. This unprecedented ancestral claim to the remains of a being outside the species Homo sapiens raises the question of the legal classification of hominin fossils. This article therefore explores the legal status of hominin fossils, with a view to both inform scientific practice and spark an interest in hominin fossils as a point of legal interest. It concludes that hominin fossils are cultural objects under the law and should be repatriated as such, while ancestral framing finds little legal support and might be detrimental rather than conducive to achieving repatriation.
A Tale of Two Museums: Restitution and the Genealogy of the False Dichotomy between Natural History Museums and Cultural Museums

Paul P. Stewens

International Journal of Cultural Policy, Apr 2026

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Museums housing cultural artifacts have long faced restitution claims while these are only beginning to affect natural history museums. Conversely, the law on cultural property restitution does not reflect a such distinction. This article examines the puzzling disconnect between cultural museums and natural history museums regarding restitution, and the comprehensive legal framework that governs it. By developing a genealogy of today’s museum landscape that builds on Foucault’s The Order of Things and Discipline and Punish, the article understands museums as institutions that constitute and enforce a given structure of knowledge and permit exercising control over the material world. Either function is contingent on a historical period’s epistemic configuration, and changes therein are key to understanding why eclectic Renaissance collections disintegrated into disciplinary museums. Understanding the genealogy of museum diversification is essential for critically approaching the false dichotomy between natural history and cultural museums regarding restitution.
Seizure without Restitution: Antiquities Dealer Leonardo Patterson’s Collection before the Munich Administrative Court

Paul P. Stewens and Donna Yates

Harvard Art Law Review, Apr 2026

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Foreign Sovereign Immunity in Exequatur Proceedings – Notes on the Hague District Court’s Decision of 5 June 2025

Livia Solaro and Paul P. Stewens

Cuadernos de Derecho Transnacional, Mar 2026

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On 5 June 2025, the District Court of The Hague rejected the request for exequatur of a Ukrainian ruling holding energy giant Gazprom jointly and severally liable for damages caused by the Russian Federation in Ukraine. Despite the entry into force of the 2019 Hague Judgments Convention between Ukraine and the Netherlands, the Dutch judge declared itself incompetent on foreign sovereign immunity grounds. This decision underscores the close interplay between private and public international law, raising important questions about the future circulation of judgments during periods of high legal and geopolitical uncertainty.

2025

Not a Toothless Law. Countering Illicit Fossil Trafficking under Regulation (EU) 2019/880

Paul P. Stewens

transfer – Zeitschrift für Provenienzforschung und Sammlungsgeschichte | Journal for Provenance Research and the History of Collection, Dec 2025

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On 27 January 2025, French customs seized nine fossilized teeth from Morocco in transit to Italy. This case study discusses the legal framework for the seizure and evaluates it in light of European Council Regulation 2019/880 and French domestic law. Moreover, it problematizes the determination of the fossils’ origin and the blurred distinction between paleontology and archaeology and examines their implications for the regulation of the illicit fossil trade. Despite their structural similarities with undocumented antiquities, fossils are not covered by the licensing scheme under Article 4. Regulation 2019/880 still allows EU Member States to enforce Morocco’s export restrictions but seizures such as this one might require fossil market actors to change established practices.
A Classification Unearthed: The History of Palaeontological Objects as Cultural Property in International Law

Paul P. Stewens

London Review of International Law, Oct 2025

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An earlier version of this article won the First Prize at the Third Edition of the International Symposium on Cultural Heritage in War and Peace, in recognition of an ’innovative profile of research, outstanding presentation and excellent content.’

Fossils are an overlooked yet threatened category of cultural property. This article traces how they became protected by international law under the League of Nations. Using archival materials and historical context, the article shows how fossils acquired value through a set of scientific, cultural, and political practices that prompted their special legal protection, in a story illuminating valuation processes in international law.

2024

“My Genocide, My Responsibility” – The 100’s Massacre at Mount Weather and International Criminal Law

Paul P. Stewens

Oct 2024

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Are Academic Publishers Ignoring the Theft of Ukrainian Fossils?

Paul P. Stewens

Apr 2024

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Russia is flouting international law by removing fossils from a Crimean cave — and journals seem to look the other way.
Law Will Find A Way: Legal Research at the Intersection with Palaeontology

Paul P. Stewens, Nussaïbah B. Raja, and Emma M. Dunne

In Interaktionen: Internationalität, Intra- Und Interdisziplinarität 63. Junge Tagung Öffentliches Recht, Feb 2024

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Fossils, the remains of dinosaurs and other extinct creatures, are not an evident concern for legal scholars. Upon closer consideration, however, it becomes apparent that there is a broad range of pressing legal issues that relate to the extraction, transfer, and ownership of palaeontological objects. This contribution outlines Law and Palaeontology as a field of research that applies a material approach and studies legal issues that relate to fossils. A number of examples and case studies illustrate the diversity of legal fields one can draw on for this: among them colonial looted fossils, the environmental law implications of the trade in mammoth ivory, and the legality of excavations in occupied Crimea under international humanitarian law. The relevance of these issues has so far been disproportionate to the little attention Law and Palaeontology has received. In the absence of legal expertise from debates in palaeontology, a culture of disregard for the law continues to thrive. The considerable demand in palaeontology for legal researchers to, inter alia, weigh in, to review the provenance declarations of studies on foreign fossils, to contribute research methodologies, and to assist collections to meet their due diligence obligations is far from being met. Therefore, legal researchers should consider Law and Palaeontology as a highly visible, versatile, interdisciplinary, and policy-relevant field of research that would develop legal expertise sorely needed in palaeontology.

2023

“Ubirajara” and Irritator Belong to Brazil: Achieving Fossil Returns Under German Private Law

Paul Philipp Stewens

International Journal of Cultural Property, Mar 2023

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This article was named Paper of the Month in the section History, Classics and Archaeology by Cambridge University Press, and the International Cultural Property Law Society and the Art-Law Centre of the University of Geneva selected this paper as the best publication by an author under 40 years of age in the International Journal of Cultural Property of 2024. As such, the author is awarded the Pierre Lalive and John Henry Merryman Fellowship in Art and Cultural Heritage Law which is valued at CHF 6,000 that are to be used towards a research stay at the the Art-Law Centre of the University of Geneva.

While disputes concerning the return of antiquities and artworks have become increasingly prevalent and receive public attention, the parallel issue of returning unlawfully exported fossils is rarely discussed. The fossils of “Ubirajara jubatus” and Irritator challengeri are prime examples of such disputes: they were taken from Brazil unlawfully, as Brazilian researchers allege, and displayed in German museums. The return disputes were characterized by both parties relying on arguments based almost exclusively on public (international) law. This Article explores private law as an alternative approach to these and similar disputes, discussing whether the fossils are the property of Brazil and could, therefore, be claimed in an action for restitution under German law. It finds that both fossils belong to Brazil since the museums did not acquire good title through a good faith purchase or acquisitive prescription.

2022

The Return of Fossils Removed Under Colonial Rule

Paul P. Stewens, Nussaïbah B. Raja, and Emma M. Dunne

Santander Art and Culture Law Review, Dec 2022

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Debates on the restitution of colonial loot usually focus on art, antiquities, religious artefacts, and similar objects. Many fossils of considerable scientific and cultural value were also removed under colonial rule, yet they rarely feature in these discussions despite being classified as cultural objects. This article seeks to shed light on the colonial removal of fossils and explore potential avenues for their return under public international law. Instead of focusing on the (il-)legality of colonial takings, we argue that the right to access culture has developed from the right to participate in cultural life in Article 15(1)(a) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which provides, if not a solid legal basis, a valuable set of arguments for former colonies requesting the return of fossils looted from their countries/territories of origin. The case study of the negotiations on the return of the Broken Hill skull before the UNESCO Intergovernmental Committee for Promoting the Return of Cultural Property to its Countries of Origin or its Restitution in Case of Illicit Appropriation (ICPRCP) highlights the potential of this mechanism of dispute resolution with respect to fossils.
Reparation for Injuries Suffered in the Service of the Rescue Aid Society: Imagining the UN Through Disney’s The Rescuers

Paul Philipp Stewens

Oct 2022

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Pardoning War Criminals: The Trump Administration, the Duty to Prosecute, and the Duty to Protect Human Rights

Paul Philipp Stewens

IFHV Working Paper Series, Oct 2022

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During former U.S. President Trump’s last months in office, one rather prominent issue among the numerous controversies surrounding the presidency was the use of the presidential pardon. Especially the seven pardons for military service members and private contractors charged with or convicted of homicide during U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan sparked criticism. This paper assesses the pardon’s conformity with the duty to prosecute grave violations of international humanitarian law, i.e., grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and war crimes under customary international law. Besides, it considers whether the pardons were compatible with a duty to prosecute serious human rights violations as an emanation from the duty to protect human rights, particularly the right to life. The analysis finds that most of the pardons represent a failure to appropriately punish human rights offenders, while all of them undermine the deterrent effect of criminal prosecution and weaken respect for international humanitarian law. The U.S. hence violates its international legal obligations.
Ethics, Law, and Politics in Palaeontological Research: The Case of Myanmar Amber

Emma M. Dunne, Nussaïbah B. Raja, Paul Philipp Stewens, and 2 more authors

Communications Biology, Sep 2022

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Fossil material in amber from Myanmar can provide important insights into mid-Cretaceous forest ecosystems. However, Myanmar amber has been receiving increased international attention due to reported links between amber mining and the ongoing humanitarian crisis in northern Myanmar, as well as the legal issues associated with its exportation. Here, we conduct a bibliometric analysis of Myanmar amber publications (1990–2021) and demonstrate how research interest in Myanmar amber is explicitly linked to major political, legal, and economic changes. An analysis of the authorship networks for publications on amber inclusions reveals how current research practices have excluded Myanmar researchers from the field. In addition, the international trade of Myanmar amber with fossil inclusions falls into a legal ‘grey-zone’ which continues to be exploited. This case study vividly demonstrates that systemic changes, alongside an increased awareness of inequitable research practices amongst the broader scientific and allied communities, are urgently needed to curb illegal practices in palaeontology.
Two Ways of Thinking About Fossils: Palaeontological Objects Between Fossil Nationalism and Fossil Internationalism

Paul Philipp Stewens

Mar 2022

DOI Blog
Billigkeit, Sittlichkeit, Menschlichkeit: Versuch einer Kritik der Generalklauseln im Völkerrecht

Paul Philipp Stewens

Studentische Zeitschrift für Rechtswissenschaft Heidelberg – Wissenschaft Online, Jan 2022

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Normen, die Bezug auf außerrechtliche Wertvorstellungen wie Treu und Glauben oder Sitte nehmen, sind als Generalklauseln vielfach als Einfallstore für Moral und Politik im Recht kritisiert worden. Meist orientieren sich diese Kritikstrategien an der Gewaltenteilung im Rechtsstaat. Generalklauseln sind auch in zahlreichen Gebieten des Völkerrechts verbreitet, etwa als Ausnahmetatbestände im WTO-Recht oder in Gestalt der bona fides. Der Aufsatz überträgt die Kritik Franz Neumanns aus dem nationalstaatlichen Kontext auf die horizontal strukturierte Völkerrechtsordnung. Während einige Kritikpunkte aufgrund der Unterschiede beider Rechtssysteme nicht übertragbar sind oder einer Modifikation bedürfen, muss auch im Völkerrecht die Politisierung des Rechts durch Generalklauseln kritisiert werden.

2021

Is Your Dating App Swiping Left on Human Rights?

Spyridoula Katsoni and Paul Philipp Stewens

Dec 2021

DOI Blog
The Moral and Legal Imperative to Return Illegally Exported Fossils

Juan C. Cisneros, Aline M. Ghilardi, Nussaïbah B. Raja, and 1 more author

Nature Ecology & Evolution, Nov 2021

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Burmese Amber: Palaeontology’s Blood Diamonds Through the Lens of International Law

Paul Philipp Stewens

Jun 2021

DOI Blog
Now or Never: The Arms Trade Treaty at Crossroads

Paul Philipp Stewens

May 2021

DOI Blog