54 No. 77 JUSTICE VI. Conclusion For the first time under the Washington Principles, claimants now hold real legal claims for restitution. They have unilateral access to the proceedings. The remedies awarded may be enforced, if necessary, and the award may be reviewed. Both the arbitral tribunal and the pool of arbitrators are fully balanced and representative. The entire arrangement was negotiated jointly between the Jewish and the German State side. There has never been more Jewish agency and representation in a dispute resolution mechanism set up under the Washington Principles. It is now crucial that the new Court of Arbitration for Nazi-Looted Cultural Property and its arbitrators gain recognition and acceptance in handling the cases competently and sensitively. In terms of content, it is important that the decisions in interpreting the rules, follow a convincing “grammar of reasons.” Comprehensive comparative legal research has been submitted in this respect, in particular the “Restatement of Restitution Rules for NaziConfiscated Art,” which was developed by the author and is available open source.42 It is a comprehensive comparative legal inventory based on approximately 1,300 cases43 from six jurisdictions.44 Parties and arbitrators, as well as the general public, may wish to consult these results of comparative research and reasoning. The academic community will continue to monitor the process. The task is now to foster a true “restitution culture” based on mutual recognition that does justice to the great historical responsibility addressed.45 A procedurally viable and conceptually coherent legal framework has been put in place. Now it must be put into practice in the spirit of “just and fair solutions.” We will learn more about the “success rate” from the evaluation of the new “Court of Arbitration for Nazi-Looted Cultural Property” provided for in the Administrative Agreement — either after three years46 or after the first ten arbitral awards. n Prof. Dr. Matthias Weller, Mag. rer. publ., MAE, Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Professor of Civil Law, Art and Cultural Property Law; Director of the Bonn Research Center for Provenance Research, Art and Cultural Property Law; Director of the Bonn Institute for German and International Civil Procedure Law; Founding Member of the Bonn Center for Reconciliation Research, University of Bonn, Germany. 42. Matthias Weller, et al.: Restatement of Restitution Rules for Nazi-Confiscated Art. Eine vergleichende Bestandsaufnahme, available at https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783111382883/html?lang =de&srsltid=AfmBOor7Frr2tPYsNZuBBlTubu0HHCtYwbhV1fYOB0hpE72R1GaRJBGT (An English translation will be released in 2026). 43. Until Dec. 3, 2023, i.e., covering the first 25 years of the Washington Principles. 44. Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland. 45. Matthias Weller, Just and Fair Solutions? – Fundamentals of a Restitution Culture for Works of Art and Cultural Property Confiscated During Nazi Persecution, in Werner Gephart et al. (eds.), COMMUNITIES AND THE(IR) LAW, Vittorio Klostermann, Frankfurt/Main 2023, 251- 278. 46. I.e., Nov. 30, 2028.
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