Law, crime and regulation

The Court of Appeals in London has upheld a decision that said advisor Simon de Pury was entitled to a $10m fee on the strength of a handshake agreement.

Writers’ association English PEN has launched a campaign to raise the £56,250 needed to buy the judge's copy of 'Lady Chatterley’s Lover' that has been barred from export.

The government has temporarily stopped the export of the judge's copy of 'Lady Chatterley’s Lover' from the infamous obscenity trial.

Burglars in a pick-up truck and an SUV ram raided the Petworth antiques fair at the weekend, stealing jewellery and cash belonging to dealers exhibiting at the three-day fair.

Pictures by contemporary artists Howard Hodgkin, Sir Peter Blake and Gilbert & George and sculptures by William Turnbull have been stolen from a home in Leicestershire.

The government is hoping to find a buyer for four works - three rugs and a painted screen - by Francis Bacon (1909-92) in the hope of keeping them in the country.

A sketch by Dutch artist Lucas van Leyden (1494-1533) has been temporarily blocked from export in the hope of finding a UK buyer.

The notebooks of Charles Darwin’s mentor, the Scottish geologist Sir Charles Lyell (1797-1875), have been temporarily blocked from export in the hope of finding a UK buyer.

A police appeal has been launched for the recovery of two Frank Auerbach (b.1931) paintings as part of a fraud investigation.

A 16th century marquetry casket long in the collection of Scotland’s Newbattle Abbey has been placed under export bar in a bid to keep it in the country.

Six-hundred rare books, manuscripts and prints which were lost or stolen from a German library during the Second World War have been returned after they were consigned to Sotheby’s.

A rare 350-year-old cabinet made by Baroque craftsman Giacomo Herman (1615-85) has been temporarily barred from export by the UK government in the hope it will be bought by a buyer in the UK.

A prolific pensioner art thief has been sentenced to two years in jail. Police are now calling for help to locate a painting that he stole from a private members’ club in London.

Art shippers have welcomed European Union laws that create a grace period for UK hauliers until the end of 2019.

Old Master picture dealer Mark Weiss has agreed an out-of-court settlement with Sotheby’s in the case of a $10m painting the auction house believed to be a forgery.

A Pablo Picasso painting missing for nearly 20 years has been recovered by the so-called real-life ‘Indiana Jones’ of the art world.