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Violation of sepulchres is a common law crime in Scotland. This crime ensures that interred human corpses are not subject to the ordinary laws of property, but are instead protected under this distinct heading of law. While it now appears settled that a corpse can be stolen prior to interment, it remains unclear if a corpse which was once buried, but has since been lawfully removed from its grave, remains incapable of being stolen, or if it becomes susceptible to theft again when exhumed. This article suggests that the latter occurs in Scots law since a res religiosa – an object not subject to the ordinary rules of property – is created when the body is placed in its grave. This suggestion draws on the connection between the contemporary crime of violation of sepulchres and its Roman ancestor, the crimen violati sepulcri. The article suggests that though the overtly religious overtones of the term ‘res religiosa’ appears to be at odds with an increasingly secularised society, the law surrounding res religiosae functionally explains the absence of ‘property’ in buried bodies, thus providing a logical basis for the proposition that an unburied body may be stolen, but a buried body may not be. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During theRenaoil spill, no data existed for New Zealand conditions on the likely depth of burial and the expected degradation of oil deposited on sandy beaches. Sediment cores were taken from 12 locations along the Bay of Plenty coastline c. 1 year after theRenaoil spill. No visible oil was detected in cores and trenches dug within the beaches. Chemical extraction was performed on 20 cm slices from the upper 40 cm of 26 cores, and the elutriates were analysed for the presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). The results were compared with known PAH fingerprints ofRenaoil and its degradation products. Only seven samples contained some marker PAHs, and none had a completeRenaprofile, indicating stormwater contamination. Despite extensive deposition ofRenaoil on beaches, no evidence of ongoing contamination could be located, indicating that the clean-up and degradation were effective at removing the oil. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the legal protection for dead people and outlines the law development for posthumous harm in China.

The article focuses on the opinion of Probate Court of Connecticut related to disinterment of decedent Beatrice Shapiro Lipsher, who was mistakenly buried in another individual's burial plot. It mentions the factors considered by the deceased person's body for determining the status of disinterment such as disinterment agreement between the parties, rights and interests of all parties and no one was responsible for improper burial. It also mentions the preservation of deceased person's body.

Iowa has long been a bastion of support for a decedent's right to control disposition of her remains. In early 2 013, the Iowa Supreme Court made an unprecedented move when it interpreted Iowa's Final Disposition Act as entirely eliminating that right--even when a decedent repeatedly and incontrovertibly expresses her wishes. This Note argues that the Iowa General Assembly did not intend this result, and proposes two modifications to the Act that can both facilitate the Act's purpose and restore the decedent's right to direct disposition of her remains. First, this Note proposes that the Iowa General Assembly modify the Act to require funeral directors to provide their clients with resources that will help them ensure that survivors honor the client's wishes regarding final disposition. Second, this Note proposes that the Iowa General Assembly modify the Act to include a presumption, rebuttable only by clear and convincing evidence to the contrary, that the person entitled to control disposition of a decedent's remains acts in accordance with the decedent's wishes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article critically reviews the present condition of burial law. Situating burial within the wider context of the ‘law of the dead’, it is observed that contemporary changes to the law have served to clarify and reinforce the individual’s power to determine what will happen to his or her organs and tissues upon death. An equivalent right to posthumous bodily self-determination has not been extended to the neglected area of burial, and it is recommended that burial law therefore needs to be updated. A series of solutions is elaborated in order to illustrate how these developments could be realized effectively in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article focuses on the slayer rule in the U.S. and the right to control the disposition of a decedent's body. It mentions that the burial right with the deficiencies present in regimes that do call for forfeiture and the recommendations for determining the proper scope of forfeiture provisions and for safeguarding due process rights. It also mentions that statutory provisions necessary to keep disposition rights out of the hands of slayers.

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.

The article presents information on pauper burial. When dying, paupers faced the prospect of being a burden to their families and lived in fear of the workhouse. In death the impoverished were stripped of their last remaining dignity as meagre makeshift economies could not be stretched to fund a respectable independent burial. The alternative, a pauper funeral, was consonant with the absolute dependence of the poor, as well as degradation, penny-pinching officials and harsh Poor Law sentiments. Irrespective of the exact time period, most concur that the pauper funeral was something feared and loathed by those on poor relief and those on its margins. Author Tom Laqueur, for instance, has suggested that the funeral became a display of one's worth in life and, in this sense, the pauper funeral became a symbol of great power, even to those in no danger of being subject to it. The issues of the pauper funeral and its quality and significance have become intrinsically tied up with residence and death in the workhouse. There has been little attempt to gauge the experiences and attitudes of the outdoor poor, who were always numerically predominant. It is important in this sense to remember that, at a national level, deaths in the workhouse always accounted for a small minority of those who died while receiving poor.

Reprints an article from the `Journal of the American Medical Association' dated February 18, 1899 which focuses on a New York State Legislature bill concerning premature burials. The objective of the bill; What the bill requires to avoid burying a person alive; What the bill was modelled after.