The constant process of abolishing, creating and reconstituting public authorities can make tracing the ownership of assets difficult. In one case, two London councils ended up in dispute over a Henry Moore sculpture worth millions of pounds.
The bronze statue, entitled 'Draped Seated Woman', was created by the sculptor in 1957 and bought by the London County Council (LCC) for a few thousand pounds. Between 1962 and 1997 it stood outside a housing estate in East London.
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets wished to sell the sculpture so that it could spend the money on public services. Its attempt to auction the work was, however, resisted by the London Borough of Bromley. The sole issue before the High Court was which of the local authorities owned the sculpture.
The Court noted that, when the LCC ceased to exist, the sculpture passed to the Greater London Council, which was itself abolished in 1986. The London Residuary Body owned the sculpture until 1996 when it was wound up and its remaining assets passed to Bromley.
However, in handing victory to Tower Hamlets, the Court found that it had exercised dominion over the statue for decades and that no one had objected to that. Tower Hamlets had paid for the statue's restoration and loaned it for three years to the Henry Moore Foundation's sculpture park in Yorkshire. All of that was done in the belief that the work belonged to Tower Hamlets and the Court concluded that, in the circumstances, Bromley's title to the sculpture had been extinguished.