On Scrolls, Artefacts and Intellectual Property

by Hector L. MacQueen (Editor)

The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in Palestine, recovered in Jordan, and largely edited by an international Christian team who prevented public access to unpublished manuscripts. Subsquently, the state of Israel, which had already purchased many of the Scrolls, has assumed responsibility for all of them. Most recently, one scroll editor has claimed copyright on his reconstruction, instigating a lawsuit and introducing serious implications for future Scrolls scholarship. This volume looks at international copyright and property rights as they affect archaeologists, editors and curators, but focuses on the issue of 'authorship' of the Scrolls, both published and unpublished, and the contributors include legal experts as well as many of the major figures in recent controversies, such as Hershel Shanks, John Strugnell, Geza Vermes and Emanuel Tov.

Hardcover

First published August 1, 2001

About the author

Hector Lewis MacQueen CBE FBA FRSE (born 1956) is a Scottish academic, a senior scholar of Scots law and legal history, and a former member of the Scottish Law Commission. He is Professor of Private Law at the University of Edinburgh and a former Dean of its Faculty of Law. He is author, co-author and editor of a large number books on Scottish law and legal history, including the 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th editions of the standard text Gloag & Henderson Law of Scotland, and is former Literary Director of the Stair Society. He is a member of the International Advisory Group for the JKLH-funded project, The Paradox of Medieval Scotland, 1093 - 1286. In 1995 he became a Fellow of The Royal Society of Edinburgh.

He is the son of the literary scholar Professor John MacQueen.