This chapter assesses the evolution of international norms against cultural plundering, focusing on two crucial turns through the cycle of normative change: the Napoleonic Wars and World War II. The empirical account, based on both secondary and archival sources, clearly depicts cycles of normative change as posited in Chapter 1. International rules prohibiting plunder are part of the stream of sovereignty norms; antiplunder rules protect the right of states to their cultural patrimony, a right that states retain even in defeat or under occupation.
Keywords: cultural plundering, plunder, international law, international laws, normative change, Napoleonic Wars, World War II, sovereignty norms, antiplunder rules,