Seizure without Restitution: Antiquities Dealer Leonardo Patterson’s Collection before the Munich Administrative Court

Article in Harvard Law Review

Stewens, Paul and Donna Yates (2026) Seizure without Restitution: Antiquities Dealer Leonardo Patterson’s Collection before the Munich Administrative Court. Harvard Art Law Review 2: 2–12.

In this short piece, we offer notes on four cases that were heard in the Munich Administrative Court and the Bavarian Administrative Court13 that involved countries of origin requesting the return of pre-Hispanic antiquities seized from
Leonardo Patterson. By presenting these case facts and the decisions and rationales of the courts in English, but refraining from deeper analysis, we hope to encourage further collection of information about the history of Patterson’s encounters with the law, and further reflection on how they can be understood through social and criminological frameworks.