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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]

The article focuses on the law and practice of disinterment, reinterment and exhumation in Minnesota. Topics discussed include law governing disinterment, reinterment, and exhumation under Minnesota Statue; role of the attorneys in planning and providing legal assistance for the same; and treatment of cremated remains under Minnesota law.

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 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.

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including failure to establish evidence retention policies of specimens for forensic analysis by law enforcement agencies, suggestions to improve and standardize buried human remain searches, and the influence of eyewitness testimonies on case verdicts.

This article works towards developing a theoretical framework outlining the premises and parameters under which forensic experts operate during various stages of international criminal investigations and the presentation of expert witness testimony in court. With reference to law and science literature, the article explores the reasons for undertaking resource-intensive forensic investigations; secondly it outlines the ways in which evidence is gathered and interpreted, the process of constructing forensic truth' and finally it examines what happens to 'forensic truth' once it enters the legal arena. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and its activities are used to illustrate the issues involved during the 'forensic expertise meets international law' interface. Specifically the forensic exhumations conducted around the Srebrenica events of July 1995 and their use in the Krstié trial serve to contextualize the debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]