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I unpack the “potter's field” as an everyday practice and a category, especially as it operates in the material treatment of bodies as a mirror of life. I examine this space of “worthlessness” as it exists in liberal capitalism. From the potter's fields of São Paulo, Brazil, I consider how these are, in fact, mundane mass graves, made politically useful as a means to obscure important bodies alongside those who are, today, the subjects of terror. I then ask how the rise of the uncertified potter's field—a burial field for disposable bodies, not made legal by the state—is inseparable from recent historical and contemporary conditions of political abandonment. The uncertified field is made easy by a politics of abandonment, and becomes useful to state institutions as a material invocation of responsibility, interred elsewhere, while nonetheless advancing a larger logic of governance and political will in our times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The proper and dignified management of the dead is one of the three pillars of the humanitarian response to disasters, along with the rescue and care of survivors and the provision of essential services. First launched in 2006, the widely used publication Management of Dead Bodies after Disasters: A Field Manual for First Responders offers practical and easy-to-follow guidelines. It has become the go-to guide not only for non-experts confronted with dead bodies in the aftermath of a catastrophe, but also for those responsible for disaster planning and preparedness in countries with well-developed forensic services. Ten years after the publication of the 2006 Manual, a revised edition has been released. The inclusion of a decade of experience in its field implementation, as well as the incorporation of recent scientific developments in mass fatality management, makes the revised Manual an invaluable resource for first responders confronted with the realities of dead body management following a disaster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ethics of non-invasive scientific research on human skeletal remains are poorly articulated and lack a single, definitive analogue in western law. Laws governing invasive research on human fleshed remains, as well as bio-ethical principles established for research on living subjects, provide effective models for the establishment of ethical guidelines for non-invasive research on human skeletal remains. Specifically, non-invasive analysis of human remains is permissible provided that the analysis and collection of resulting data (1) are accomplished with respect for the dignity of the individual, (2) do not violate the last-known desire of the deceased, (3) do not adversely impact the right of the next of kin to perform a ceremonious and decent disposal of the remains, and (4) do not unduly or maliciously violate the privacy interests of the next of kin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at contributing to the evolving debate over the rights of the dead by providing it with concrete empirical socio-legal context. A pioneering study of succession disputes, conducted in Israel, exposes a gap between a prominent judicial promise to respect the wishes and guard the dignity of the deceased testator, and the actual action taking place behind this rhetoric. The findings reveal that the testator's dignity and wishes are trampled during testamentary procedures, when demeaning allegations about his or her mental and physical competence are allowed, and personal and medical information is exposed, and when the judge approves settlements that diverge from the testator's last will in the name of familial reconciliation, even though in most cases there are no nuclear family ties between the rival parties. These findings are discussed in the light of an original typology mapping the theoretical controversies over posthumous rights, to highlight some of the possible normative implications of the project for the law on the books and law in action related to property division after death. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The United States faces a shortage of organs for transplantation; thousands of individuals die each year while waiting for organs. The organ donation system relies on altruism because the National Organ Transplantation Act (NOTA) prohibits donors from receiving valuable consideration for organs to be used for transplantation. This paper contains a proposal for a regulated market for cadaveric organs as a mechanism to increase the number of organs available for transplantation. A regulated market for cadaveric organs is appropriate in the United States for the following reasons: (1) it is consistent with the numerous ways in which bodies. are currently treated as commodities; (2) it is unlikely to further disadvantage the poor; (3) it would not expose organ recipients to undue harm; (4) in the current organ transplantation system, everyone except the organ donor, benefits financially; (5) the prohibition in NOTA is inconsistent with laws permitting next of kin to recover for damage to the body of a deceased family member; (6) the protection of the dignitary interests of organs for donation is inconsistent with the current protections of the dignitary interests of human specimens; and (7) permitting a market for organs promotes the American values of autonomy and liberty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the issue of donation of organs from deceased donors for transplantation into a specified recipient. It argues that proper account should be taken of the principles underlying the Human Tissue Act 2004, which grant the donor a form of proprietary control. Three hypothetical scenarios are then used to draw out the implications of these principles for existing regulatory policy and the common law response to excised human organs. The paper concludes that the law should be understood as recognising ownership in organs removed from living and deceased persons and as offering opposition to the prohibition of directed donation that can only be coherently removed by reform of the 2004 Act. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the sustained and increasingly institutionalized transnational practice of repatriating the bodies of deceased Mexican migrants from the United States to their hometowns in Mexico. Far from being a strictly private transnational practice, migrants' desire for a posthumous return and burial in their homelands is popularly expressed in the memories, music, and everyday exchanges of the Mexican diaspora. Drawing on transnational ethnographic research in Los Angeles, California, and Zacatecas, Mexico, this article documents how the Mexican state has institutionalized this process at the transnational, national, state, and municipal levels of governance. Last, the article discusses the role of migrant family and social networks in these repatriations. The goals of this article are to provide a preliminary cultural and institutional understanding of the practice of repatriating cadavers from the United States to Mexico and to discuss the implications of this process for the scholarly debate on migrant transnationalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the procedures of the anatomy inspectorate in Great Britain between 1842 and 1858 and the requirements of the British Anatomy Act regarding the dissection of remains and their disposal. The common public assumption that discovered remains may have come from medical schools or was evidence of a crime committed by a medical student is addressed. It is argued that the inspectorate often became embroiled in unlawful and unethical means of obtaining and distributing corpses for anatomical examinations at British medical schools. How the unpopularity of autopsy among the public during mid-19th century had an impact on the laws and practices regarding human remains are analyzed.

Discusses the moral and legal aspects of maintaining a brain-dead woman on life support for the successful delivery of her fetus. Dsicussion of the permissibility of maintaining artificially a dead woman solely for the sake of her fetus and the motivation for doing so; Inquiry into whether there is any justification for this medical procedure or whether it is only performed out of a desire to save the fetus; Analysis of the legal frameworks related to pregnancy and to the treatment of the body of brain-dead patients under abortion law and under human tissue gift law and examination of their application to the case of a brain-dead pregnant patient.

Reports that the New Jersey Supreme Court held that a hospital has a duty to act reasonably in releasing dead bodies and must respond quickly to requests to terminate life support for brain dead patients. Details of the case; Legal precedents; Policy implications on medical jurisprudence.