GUIDELINES FOR THE CURATION OF GEOLOGICAL MATERIALS

6.2.2.3. Disposal constrained by law and international conventions
(1) Statutory constraints. Museums in the U.K. come under the statutory
provisions of either English or Scottish Law. It can be stated unequivocally that
the governing body of a museum cannot legally dispose of any material donated,
bequeathed or subject to any other trust deed unless
(a) permission for disposal was specifically granted to the museum (for which
there must be documentary evidence) by the donor, testator, or trust
executors when the material was originally acquired by the museum; or
(b) permission for disposal is obtained by the donor (if still living) or the
surviving relations and legally recognised representative of the donor,
testator, or trust.
If such permission does not exist or cannot be obtained, the governing body must
apply to the Charity Commissioners for permission to dispose of the material. They
will adjudge the case on its merits, and, if consenting, will almost certainly make
stringent conditions concerning the means of disposal and allocation of disposal
revenue. These must, of course, be scrupulously observed.
The legal status of material acquired by the museum, for examples'by purchase
or by field collection by staff 'in museum time', is ill-defined and has not as yet
been the subject of case-law.
More detailed statements concerning the legal status of collections in U.K.
museums are set out in the Museums Association's 'Code of Practice for Museum
Authorities' (Boylan 1977).
(2) Non-statutory constraints
Museum registration scheme. At the time of writing, this scheme has yet to be
introduced Discussions between the Museums and Galleries Commission and the
Museums Association are in progress on the feasibility of introducing a scheme
whereby provincial museums must be 'registered' to be eligible for receiving
central government funding. A prerequisite for registration will be a professionally
acceptable policy on disposal. The absence of, or non-adherence to, such
a policy would preclude a museum from registration (and hence suffer the
sanction of ineligibility for central government funds).
International conventions. Minerals and objects of palaeontological interest
receive specific mention in the 'Convention on the means of prohibiting and
preventing the illicit import, export and transfer of ownership of cultural
property' UNESCO (1970). The U.K. has yet to ratify this 'Convention' but is
being urged to do so by the Museums Association. The Association also urges
individual museums to adopt the principles of the 'Convention'. Due account
should therefore be taken of this and other international conventions that may be
produced by UNESCO, and the International Council of Museums (ICOM), etc.
International codes. The 'International Code of Zoological Nomenclature'
(ICZN 1985) has placed particular responsibilities on the museum or other
institution for the care of type palaeozoological material it may have. See in
particular Recommendations 72G (B4.4.2.6) and 72C(g) of that Code. Recommendation
7A of the 'International Code for Botanical Nomenclature' (Stafleu
1983) (ICBN) seeks to provide similar control for palaeobotanical types. An
informal concept of types for mineralogical species is also generally recognised,
with the implication that institutions again have a responsibility to the international
scientific community for the care of such specimens. (See Bassett, 1979;
Embrey & Hey, 1970).