Volume 12, Issue 2, Summer 2005
The Ownership of Common Goods
Lawrence Lengbeyer
Pages 53-61
Altering Artworks
Creators’ Moral Rights vs. The Public Good
The grounds for recognizing that artists possess a personal “moral right of integrity” that would entitle them to prevent others from modifying their works are weak. There is, however, an important (and legislation-worthy) public interest in protecting highly-valued entities, including at least some works of art, from permanently destructive transformations.