If a community were toseek restitution of an item for any reason, a museum would have a duty to dealsensitively and promptly with that request, but its principaln duty wouldcontinue to be to safeguard the item and hold it in trust for society.However, the principle thatownership need not limit the physical accessibility of the item to theinstitution that owns it is now widely accepted and has guided the provision of the National Museums of Scotland’s...