Charlotte Woodhead

Associate Professor

Art Law; Cultural Heritage Law; Restitution; Repatriation; Cultural Property Law; Personal Property Law

School of Law
S1.25, Social Sciences Building
University of Warwick
Coventry CV4 7AL
United Kingdom

024 765 24162

Scholarship

Charlotte's research interests lie in cultural heritage law. She has written articles on the restitution and repatriation of objects from museum collections with a particular focus on the work of the UK's Spoliation Advisory Panel. Her work explores the legal and self-imposed moral obligations under which museums act in their dealings with their collections and with the people they serve. Her recent project Caring for Cultural Heritage: An Integrated Approach to Legal and Ethical Initiatives in the United Kingdom (2024, Law in Context Series, Cambridge University Press) focused on how the UK cares for cultural heritage through legal instruments, guidance, codes and civil society initiatives using the ethics of care as a framework of analysis. She is currently working on the use of narratives in museum labels as a response to claims for cultural heritage objects.

Bio

Ph.D. (Leicester); LL.M. in Commercial and Corporate Law (London); LL.B. (London); Non-practising barrister (Middle Temple);Member of the General Council of the Bar; Member of the Society of Legal Scholars; Member of the Socio-Legal Studies Association (SLSA); Member of the Association of Law Teachers; Member of the Ecclesiastical Law Society; Member of the International Bar Association; Member of the Association of Critical Heritage Studies; and Member of the Museums Association. Co-convenor of the Art, Culture and Heritage stream at the SLSA Annual Conference (2011-2016). Previously City Solicitors' Educational Trust Lecturer (Contract Law). Charlotte served as a member of the Museums Association Ethics Committee from 2013-2019. In 2018 she was commissioned by the DCMS and the UK's Spoliation Advisory Panel to produce an expert analysis and proposals relating to recommendations arising from the 2017 London Spoliation Conference. She is a member of the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee at Compton Verney, Warwickshire.

Publications

'Woodhead, Charlotte, 2022. 'Creative equity in practice : responding to extra-legal claims for the return of Nazi looted art from UK museums. Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly
Woodhead, Charlotte, 2019. Tarnished treasures : provenance and the UK's Waverley criteria. Santander Art and Culture Law Review, 2 (5), pp. 109-134
Woodhead, Charlotte, 2016. Putting into place solutions for Nazi Era dispossessions of cultural objects : the UK experience. International Journal of Cultural Property, 23 (4), pp. 385-406
Woodhead, Charlotte, 2015. Not merely symbolic restitution : Constable beaching a boat, Brighton. Art Antiquity and Law, 20 (247)
Woodhead, Charlotte, 2015. The changing tide of title to cultural heritage objects in UK museums. International Journal of Cultural Property, 22 (2-3), pp. 229-257
Woodhead, Charlotte, 2014. Redressing historic wrongs, returning objects to their rightful owners or laundering tainted objects? 21st-century UK remedies for Nazi-era injustices. International Journal of Cultural Property, 21 (2), pp. 113-142
Woodhead, Charlotte, 2013. Nazi era spoliation : establishing procedural and substantive principles. Art, Antiquity and Law, 18 (2)
Woodhead, Charlotte, 2011. Interference with property rights based on cultural heritage principles. Cambrian Law Review, Vol.42
Woodhead, Charlotte, 2009. Moral claims against museums : the emerging concept of moral title to objects of cultural heritage. The International Journal of the Inclusive Museum, 2 (2), pp. 1-12
Woodhead, Charlotte, 2004. Re Holy Trinity Bosham : the mystery of King Harold's final resting place. Art, Antiquity & Law, 9 (3), pp. 299-309
Woodhead, Charlotte, 2003. Exhumation of a national hero and the return to his homeland in re St Mary the Virgin, Hurley. Art, Antiquity and Law, VIII (3), pp. 289-297
Woodhead, Charlotte, 2003. Tickets please : free admission to cultural institutions and the impact of EC law. Art, Antiquity and Law, VIII (3), pp. 255-263
Woodhead, Charlotte, 2002. A debate which crosses all borders - the repatriation of human remains : more than just a legal question. Art, Antiquity and Law, VII (4), pp. 317-347

Woodhead, C., 2024. Domestic background norms and heritage : framing and the tactics of optics. Lixinski, L.; Morisset, L. (eds.), Routledge Handbook of Heritage and the Law, Routledge
Woodhead, Charlotte, 2024. Article 7(b)(i) of the 1970 UNESCO Convention : prohibition of import of inventoried cultural property. Vrdoljak, Ana Filipa; Jakubowski, Andrzej; Chechi, Alessandro (eds.), The 1970 UNESCO and 1995 UNIDROIT Conventions on Stolen or Illegally Transferred Cultural Property, Oxford, Oxford University Press
Woodhead, Charlotte, 2023. Caring for cultural heritage : an integrated approach to legal and ethical initiatives in the United Kingdom.
Dewey, Anne, Woodhead, Charlotte, 2023. The Austrian Art Restitution Advisory Panel in an international context. Kirchmayr, Birgit; Schölnberger, Pia (eds.), Restituiert: 25 Jahre Kunstrückgabegesetz in Österreich, Czernin Verlags GmbH
Woodhead, Charlotte, 2021. United Kingdom. In Redmond-Cooper, Ruth (ed.), Museums and the Holocaust, Institute of Art & Law, pp. 51-73
Woodhead, Charlotte, 2013. Care, custody and display of human remains : legal and ethical obligations. Giesen, Myra (ed.), Curating human remains : caring for the dead in the United Kingdom, Woodbridge, Boydell
Woodhead, Charlotte, 2009. Ownership, possession, title and transfer : human remains in museum collections. In Dixon, Martin (ed.), Modern studies in property law, Oxford, Hart, pp. 313-335
Woodhead, Charlotte, Harris, Luke, 2009. Specialist Editors to : Exclusion clauses and unfair terms [Chapter 38]. Palmer, Norman (ed.), Palmer on Bailment, London, Sweet & Maxwell
Redmond-Cooper, Ruth, Woodhead, Charlotte, Palmer, N. E., 2004. Cultural heritage statutes. Leicester, United Kingdom, Institute of Art and Law

Woodhead, Charlotte, 2011. Defining the impossible : the concept of morality in the decisions of the Spoliation Advisory Panel. Society of Legal Scholars Annual Conference, Cambridge, UK, 7-8 Sep 2011

'Woodhead, Charlotte, 2019. 'Action towards consistent 'just and fair solutions'. Gouvernement Fran?ais
Woodhead, Charlotte, 2019. Implementing recommendation 3 of the 2017 London Conference Action Plan. Department for Digital Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) ; Spoliation Advisory Panel

Teaching Impact

Policy

Charlotte was commissioned by the DCMS and the Spoliation Advisory Panel to write a report which looks at the differences in process between the 5 European restitution committees and addresses the 2017 London Conference recommendation 3.

Charlotte created a policy brief relating to her work Addressing Ethical Provenance when designating UK national treasures which was shared with relevant stakeholders.

In 2020 Charlotte was invited to give expert evidence on the then Dutch restitution policy to the Evaluation Committee on Restitution Policy concerning artworks looted by the Nazi regime chaired by Jacob Kohnstamm, which had been commissioned by the Dutch Minister of Education, Culture and Science. Her work is cited in the final report.

Charlotte was a member of the expert working group of the International Academic Research ProjectLink opens in a new window commissioned byThe German Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media entitled “Strengthening the German ‘Advisory Commission on the return of cultural property seized as a result of Nazi persecution, especially Jewish property’. The full report, published in 2024, is available hereLink opens in a new window.

Public Understanding

Charlotte was invited to contribute to the 20th Anniversary Colloque of the CIVS (French Commission for the Compensation of the Victims of Spoliation) and to contribute to the Guide to the Work of the restitution Committees, published by the French Commission for the Compensation of the victims of the Spoliation.

In October 2022 Charlotte was invited to contribute to a roundtable at a colloquium on the Transmission of historic buildings organised by the Universities of Paris Saclay and Orléans (as part of a project with La Demeure Historique) under the patronage of the French Ministry of Culture.

In May 2024 Charlotte was invited by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the V&A to co-ordinate a roundtable and lead the discussion between representatives from the five restitution committees across Europe. This took place at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London and the event was overall chaired by Lord Inglewood. The event was covered in a special edition of the newsletter of the Network of European Restitution Committees.

In October 2024 Charlotte took part in the University of Warwick's Resonate Festival at the Royal Pump Rooms, Leamington Spa. She designed and ran an activity for children introducing them to the law of treasure. Here is the Resonate story with photos from the event.

Professional Practice

As a member of the Museums Association Ethics Committee (2013-2019) Charlotte was involved in drafting the 2015 revised MA Code of Ethics.

Since 2024 Charlotte has been a member of the English Policy Committee of the Heritage Trust Network. She is also a member of the Finance Audit and Risk CommitteeLink opens in a new window of Compton Verney House Charity.

To hear Charlotte's contribution to the Contested Heritage podcast series by 39 Essex Chambers, click here.

Culture

Law as Creative Art: Through Warwick Arts Centre, colleagues have been able to access a broader audience for their research. In 2013 the ‘This is Tomorrow’ project involved Jackie Hodgson, Solange Mouthaan, Rebecca Probert, Paul Raffield, Andrew Williams and Charlotte Woodhead all sharing their research with creative artists.

Research Supervision