The court declined to consider the lawsuit since it ruled that the “theft” of the marbles was committed more than 150 years previous to the UK’s signature of the human rights convention.

The marbles had been stolen from the Parthenon by Lord Elgin during the 1800’s. The Lord sold them to the British Government in 1816. Elgin had secured a firman, a legal permission by the then occupiers of Greece, the Ottomans Empire, to take some stones away. It is however highly questionable whether even that document had granted him permission to deface the ancient temple. 

The case was submitted to the courts by the Athenian Association, a cultural club. The Greek government has decided not to pursue the case after having received extensive legal advice. The Unesco has also proposed to mediate between the two countries, something which has been rejected by the British state.

Crucial points of the ruling included the court’s decision that:  “The Court notes that the marbles were removed from Greece in the early 19th century.”
“In order to bring the matter within the temporal jurisdiction of the Court, the applicant has sought to rely on the refusal of the United Kingdom to enter into mediation with Greece concerning the return of the marbles and the continuing refusal to return the marbles. 

“However, it is clear from the nature of the applicant’s complaints that its underlying grievance is the allegedly unlawful removal of the marbles from Greece. The removal having occurred some 150 years before the Convention was drafted and ratified by the respondent state, the applicant’s complaints would appear to be inadmissible.”

The European court also decreed that the association had no “right … to have the marbles returned to Greece”.