artistic or historic interest of a monument, in the widest sense of
the word, justify the interference of the state with the right of a
private owner, whether corporate body or individual, to do what
he likes with his own? Nearly every European country other
than the United Kingdom has given a decided answer to this
question. It may be noticed, as showing the extreme reluctance
to state interference in the United Kingdom, that a clause,
laying on an owner of a monument, scheduled under the Monument
Act 1882, the obligation of offering it for purchase to the
state if he wished to destroy it, was struck out of that act.
The main lines followed by legislation or regulation for the preservation of monuments may be briefly indicated. Central organizations of commissions and conservators, with a staff of architects, inspectors, and archaeological or artistic experts for consultation, are established. These may have large legal powers of enforcing their decisions, or may act chiefly by advice or persuasion. The national treasures are catalogued and scheduled, and the value estimated in an exhaustive inventory, in many cases supplemented by local inventories. In many cases, unfortunately, a valuable monument has been destroyed through ignorance of its value. A special form of inventory, carrying with it legal consequences, is that known as the classement system; of this form the French is the typical example. In this only the outstanding monuments find a place, and such either become national property altogether, or the protection and preservation is undertaken by the state, or may be left in the hands of the private owner; but in any case the monument cannot be destroyed, restored or repaired without the consent of the central authority. The classement system has been criticized as tending to depreciate the consideration paid to such monuments as do not appear in the list—monuments non-classés. The British Monument Acts adopt a narrow kind of classement in the schedule attached to the 1882 act. Most states have powers of expropriation or compulsory purchase of private property on grounds of public utility, and English law is no exception—as in the case of the compulsory purchase of land for railways. The majority of states have made the protection of monuments such a matter of public utility. Further, the exportation of artistic or historic treasures, i.e. movable monuments, has been controlled by the state, notably in the case of Italy and Greece, Turkey and Egypt. Connected with this side of the question is the control by the state of excavations undertaken by private persons, even on their own property. In Germany considerable protection is effected by the powers given to municipalities to make by-laws, respecting not only the preservation of the monuments, but also the erection of new buildings that may interfere with the monuments or with the general characteristic appearance (Stadtbild) of the town. This is also the case in Italy, where there are frequent regulations as to town-planning (piano regolamento).
The following is a brief account of the measures adopted in the principal countries of the world for the preservation and protection of their artistic and historic treasures.
United Kingdom.—There are four acts: the Ancient Monuments Protection Acts of 1882, 1900 and 1910, and the Ancient Monuments Protection (Ireland) Act 1892. The act of 1882, due primarily to Lord Avebury, then Sir John Lubbock, provided that a list of monuments[1] in Great Britain and Ireland should be made to which the act was to apply; the number of these monuments was sixty-eight, all being of the kind known as prehistoric (barrows, stone-circles, dolmens, &c.). An owner of one of these scheduled monuments may by deed place it in the guardianship of the commissioners of works, who are then responsible for its preservation and can protect it even against the owner. The commissioners may purchase any of the scheduled monuments, but only by agreement, the compulsory clauses of the Lands Clauses Consolidation Acts being expressly excluded, though any purchase is to be made under those acts. An owner of any monument other than those scheduled may place it in the care of the commissioners. The funds for the working of the act are to be provided by parliament, and an inspector of ancient monuments was appointed. General Pitt-Rivers, the first inspector appointed, found that without compulsory powers the act was useless, and for many years did not draw his official salary. After his death in 1900 the office was left unfilled until 1910. The act of 1892 applied to Ireland only, and is supplementary to that of 1882, which applied to the whole of the United Kingdom. The Irish act gave to the commissioners of public works in Ireland powers—only to be exercised with the consent of the owner—of applying the act of 1882 to any monument possessing such public interest as might render it worthy of preservation. It is to be noticed that after the disestablishment of the Irish Church certain unused churches of artistic or historic interest were placed in the charge of the commissioners as national monuments, with a sum of £50,000 to defray expenses. The Irish commissioners have therefore monuments in their care other than those scheduled in the acts, and may apply towards the expenses of the preservation of the scheduled monuments any surplus over from the fund above mentioned. The act of 1900 applied the Irish act to Great Britain, but the powers have not been exercised by the first commissioner of works. The act also gave the powers of the act of 1892 to county councils, allowed the authorities, local or central, to make arrangements for the preservation of monuments with owners or others, including societies, and to receive subscriptions for the same object, and also provided for public access to such monuments as are in the guardianship of the commissioners under the act. The acts of 1892 and 1900, though allowing buildings of historic or other interest to be placed under the care of the commissioners, exclude buildings occupied as a dwelling-place by any person other than a caretaker and his family. The act of 1910 gives to the commissioners of works power to acquire by bequest buildings of historic or architectural interest. The act of 1900 had given power to acquire such by gift or purchase, and the act of 1882 had given power by bequest also, but only referred to prehistoric remains. The London County Council possesses powers of purchasing by agreement any building of historic or other interest under a General Powers Act of 1898, and exercised these in 1900 by purchasing a 17th century house in Fleet Street (known as Cardinal Wolsey's palace). It will be seen that the United Kingdom possesses no official commission, no conservators, no consultative official body, and no compulsory powers of expropriation. The acts dealing with the subject are entirely permissive. Towards the making of a national inventory the first step taken was the appointment in 1908 of three royal commissions, for England, Scotland and Wales respectively, “to make an inventory of the ancient and historical monuments and constructions connected with or illustrative of the contemporary culture, civilization and conditions of life of the people from the earliest times”: to the year 1700 in the case of England; 1707 in that of Scotland; for Wales no date is specified; and “to specify those which seem worthy of preservation.” The Housing, Town Planning, &c. Act 1909, §45, and the Development and Road Improvement Funds Act, 1909, excepts the sites of ancient monuments or of other objects of historical interest from compulsory acquisition for the purposes of those acts. The Finance Act 1896, §20, granted a qualified exemption from estate duty to pictures, prints, books, MSS., works of art, scientific collections and other things not yielding income, as appear to the Treasury to be of national, scientific or historic interest; this exemption only extends where such property is settled to be enjoyed in kind in succession by different persons; if the property is sold or is in the possession of a person competent to dispose of it, it becomes liable to estate duty. The Finance Act 1909 extends the exemption to legacy and succession duty, removes the restriction to settled property, and adds “artistic” to “national and historic interest.”
The Committee for the Survey of the Memorials of Greater London, supported by the London County Council, has begun a complete register and survey of the historic buildings of London. Apart from the numerous national and archaeological
- ↑ The names of the monuments so scheduled are given in an appendix to Sir R. Hunter’s Lecture an the Preservation of Places of Interest and Beauty (1907).
