Opinion ID: 363887
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Application of N.S.P.A. to Dealings in Pre-Columbian Artifacts.

Text: 17 Appellants attack the application of the N.S.P.A. to their conduct under two different theories. They first argue that Congress never intended the N.S.P.A. to reach items deemed stolen only by reason of a country's declaration of ownership. In any event, they claim, the N.S.P.A. was superseded by the 1972 Law on Importation of Pre-Columbian Monumental or Architectural Sculpture or Murals, 19 U.S.C. §§ 2091-95, which provides only the civil penalty of forfeiture 5 for importation of certain types of pre-Columbian artifacts. 6 Second, they and their amicus argue that due process is violated by imposing criminal penalties through reference to Mexican laws that are vague and inaccessible except to a handful of experts who work for the Mexican government. 18 We view appellants' first argument as foreclosed by our doctrine of law of the case. Under that doctrine it is our practice to apply a rule of law enunciated by the court to the same issues in subsequent proceedings and appeals in the same case. Unlike the rule of res judicata, the doctrine applies only to issues that were decided in the former proceeding but not to questions that might have been decided but were not. Carpa, Inc. v. Ward Foods, Inc., 567 F.2d 1316, 1320 (5th Cir. 1978). Though appellants articulated their theories in a slightly different manner in the first appeal, they provoked a square holding that, in addition to the rights of ownership as understood by the common law, the N.S.P.A. also protects ownership derived from foreign legislative pronouncements, even though the owned objects have never been reduced to possession by the foreign government. United States v. McClain, 545 F.2d 988, 994-97 (5th Cir. 1977). Moreover, the earlier panel had considered evidence of the 1972 statute, its legislative history and UNESCO negotiations, holding nevertheless that neither statute nor treaty nor our historical policy of encouraging the importation of art more than 100 years old had the effect of narrowing the N.S.P.A. so as to make it inapplicable to artifacts declared to be the property of another country and illegally imported into this country. 545 F.2d at 996-97. Appellants' attempt to raise these points again on appeal is therefore foreclosed Unless 19 (1) the evidence on a subsequent trial was substantially different, (2) controlling authority has since made a contrary decision of the law applicable to such issues, or (3) the decision was clearly erroneous and would work manifest injustice. 20 Morrow v. Dillard, 580 F.2d 1284, 1290 (5th Cir. 1978), Quoting White v. Murtha, 377 F.2d 428, 431-32 (5th Cir. 1967). 21 Of these customary heads of exception, only the third is even a colorable issue. Appellants attempt to identify clear error in the panel's decision largely by pointing to the legislative history of the 1972 statute. From stray congressional remarks, such as that of Representative Byrnes of Wisconsin that the legislation deals with items Stolen in the country of origin, and we are saying that if it is stolen it cannot be brought in, 7 coupled with the statute's noncoverage of movable artifacts such as ceramic pots or figurines and provision of civil forfeiture as the only penalty, appellants seek to establish a very specific legislative understanding and intent. They argue (1) that Congress believed that pre-Columbian artifacts were not forfeitable under preexisting laws such as the N.S.P.A.; (2) that Congress must have intended to allow importation of movable items like most of those in the Rodriguez/Simpson/McClain collections; and (3) that Congress intended that illegal importation of immovables be punished by forfeiture of the item and not by imprisonment or fine under the criminal laws. 22 Our study of the statute and its scant legislative history persuades us that appellants' reading of it is not correct. Both the Report by the House Ways and Means Committee and the Report by the Senate Finance Committee explicitly refer to the presence of other unspecified sanctions: While legal remedies for the return of such objects are available in U.S. courts in some cases, these procedures can be extremely expensive and time consuming and do not provide a meaningful deterrent to the pillage of pre-Columbian sites now taking place. 8 Moreover, the Act covers objects imported from all the countries of Latin America. These countries may have acted quite differently to protect their cultural heritages, some by declaring national ownership and others merely by enacting stringent export restrictions. Since it covers artifacts from such a large number of countries, the Act is better seen not as an indication that other available penalties were thereby precluded, but rather as a recognition that additional deterrents were needed. We cannot see in this congressional intent any desire to prevent application of criminal sanctions for dealing in items classified as stolen because a particular country has enacted national ownership of its patrimony. 9 23 Appellants' second challenge is not so easily resolved. It is elementary that criminal statutes must give notice of the acts they prohibit before valid penalties may be imposed thereunder. In their first appeal, appellants argued broadly that a reference to any foreign law for the purpose of determining what is or is not stolen would inject an unacceptable degree of uncertainty into the administration of the N.S.P.A. This argument also drew a firm holding a ruling that application of the N.S.P.A. to foreign exportation did not render that statute void for vagueness. 545 F.2d at 1001, 1002 n.30. The court reasoned that the statute's specific scienter requirement eliminates the possibility that a defendant is convicted for an offense he could not have understood to exist. In support, the court cited Boyce Motor Lines v. United States, 342 U.S. 337, 340, 72 S.Ct. 329, 331, 96 L.Ed. 367 (1952), for the proposition that it is not unfair to require that one who deliberately goes perilously close to an area of proscribed conduct shall take the risk that he may cross the line. The court finally noted that it would have been impossible for the statute to have explicitly described every type of theft that might fall within its broad purview. Id. 24 In assessing whether the law of the case doctrine precludes further challenge under a void-for-vagueness theory, we first observe that the panel's holding was in response to a challenge about reference to foreign law Generally and not to a challenge about the specific Mexican statutes. Moreover, we think it very significant that the panel's response was made in the context of its independent review of the relevant Mexican statutes. Its study of those statutes led the court to conclude that Mexico had not Unequivocally declared national ownership of All artifacts until 1972. 545 F.2d at 997-1000. Entailed in the proposition that criminal penalties on the basis of the 1972 declaration of ownership are proper, is the probable corollary that criminal penalties on the basis of, for instance, the 1897 Mexican statute alone would have been improper because that statute did not declare the nation's ownership of movables with sufficient clarity. 10 The panel's opinion is consistent with the view that, had there been no subsequent enactments that declared ownership with enough specificity to be accessible to and understandable by our citizenry, criminal penalties may well have violated our fundamental standards of due process. We are therefore convinced that, insofar as criminal liability in the second trial may possibly have been predicated on a conclusion that the 1897 Act declared Mexican ownership of all artifacts, appellants' precise due process challenge was not decided before and therefore survives. Because the due process challenge is so closely linked with the issue of the proper view of Mexican law, further discussion of this issue will be postponed until we have described and assessed the record on that point. 25