The National Cultural Heritage Law Moot Court Competition Board would like to congratulate the participating teams and announce the award winners from the 2013 competition! See the award winners and a video of the final round of the Competition on the Past Competitions page! The 2013 problem focused on two issues concerning the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (25 U.S.C. §§ 3001 et seq.). The first issue focused on the statutory interpretation of the Act while the second issue considered whether vesting ownership in a funerary object pursuant to the Act would result in a taking of property within the meaning of the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The full 2013 problem is on the Problem & Briefs page.

The 2013 Competition hosted twenty teams from around the country and featured over seventy-five attorney judges including many nationally renowned cultural property experts and DePaul College of Law faculty. The Competition was honored to have the Hon. William J. Bauer, U.S. Court of Appeals for 7th Circuit, Hon. Paul J. Kelly, Jr., U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, Hon. Mary Mikva, Circuit Court of Cook County, and Hon. Sherry Hutt, Arizona State Superior Court, retired, preside over the final round.

DePaul University College of Law and the Lawyers’ Committee for Cultural Heritage Preservation are also pleased to announce their Fifth Annual National Cultural Heritage Law Moot Court Competition! Registration will open in August 2013 and the oral arguments for the 2014 competition will be held on February 21st and 22nd at the Everett McKinley Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago. More detailed information will be contained in the Competition Rules, which will be available in early summer.

Cultural heritage law deals with our most prized possessions and often spans beyond national borders, and, inevitably, has become the subject of often contentious legal debates and policies. This dynamic and growing legal field deals with the issues that arise as our society comes to appreciate the important symbolic, historical and emotional role that cultural heritage plays in our lives. It encompasses several disparate areas: protection of archaeological sites; preservation of historic structures and the built environment; preservation of and respect for both the tangible and intangible indigenous cultural heritage; the international market in art works and antiquities; and recovery of stolen art works.

Contact

If you have any questions about the competition, please contact chmoot@gmail.com