http://dx.doi.org/10.17176/20221216-091248-0 https://verfassungsblog.de/possessions-spoils-of-war-belongings/ Possessions, Spoils of War, Belongings - What Museum Archives Tell us About the (Il)legality of the Plunder of African Property LeGall, Yann Machona, Gwinyai eng 2022-12-02 electronic resource text/html ddc:342 Restitution Verfassungsblog Verfassungsblog--2366-7044 CC BY-SA 4.0 Addressing colonial injustices by claiming restitution of artefacts and other belongings before German courts is undeniably a legal challenge for all stakeholders. As a shield against (potential) legal claims, museums, state authorities and some legal scholars have argued that there is no legal obligation for restitution of such belongings. Based on the stipulation that “colonial law has to be applied, even if it is no longer compatible with today’s views on law and justice”, this line of argument assumes that the acquisition of the possessions of colonized people by Europeans and subsequent transactions were generally considered lawful in the nineteenth century. In this contribution, we question this assumption.