The Case against Statutes of Limitations for Stolen Art

Abstract

When a thief steals a work of art and resells it to a bona fide purchaser, most commentators favor protecting the buyer's title against a claim by the original owner. American law on this issue has been in flux, and today most American States resolve these disputes by balancing the buyer's blameworthiness against the owner's delay and fault. Such ad hoc statutes of limitations are misguided because they encourage art theft, reward morally culpable buyers, and leave the law unclear and unpredictable. Instead, the law should award title automatically to theft victims who immediately report their losses to the police and an international computerized database of art thefts. Doing so would create clear incentives for owners to report thefts and for buyers and art merchants to check the database, thus drying up the market for stolen art.