Last Updated: 08/18/02

1834    Associations. 

1835    Exemption of Lots.

1836    Towns May Provide for Burial.

1837    Bodies May Be Obtained for Burial.

1838    What Bodies May Be Surrendered.

1839    Conditions of Surrender.

1840    Penalty for Violating Law.

6458    Grave Robbing.

1834. Any number of individuals, in any portion of this state, may associate for the purpose of procuring and establishing a burying ground or place of sepulture; and, being so associated, they shall, on complying with the provisions of this section, be a body politic and corporate; may choose a president and other officers, may enact by-laws for regulating the affairs of such corporation not inconsistent with the laws of this state, and compel the observance thereof by suitable penalties; may sue and be sued, and do all acts necessary and proper for the well ordering of the affairs of such corporation: Provided, That, before any such association shall be entitled to the privileges granted in this section, they shall lodge with the secretary of this state a copy of their articles of association, and shall also cause the same to be recorded in the records of the county where such burying ground is situated.  [1857, 28, 1.  Abb. R. P. Stat. p. 322, No 443, ss1]

1835. Exemption of lots.  Whenever any part of such burying ground shall have been designated and appropriated by the proprietors thereof as the burying place of any particular person or family, the same shall not be liable to be taken or disposed of by any warrant or execution, for any tax or debt whatever; nor shall the same be liable to be sold to satisfy the demands of creditors whenever the estate of such owner shall be insolvent.  [1857, 28, 2; 1H. 2426.   Abb. R. P. Stat. p. 322, No 443, ss2]

1836.  Towns may provide for burial.   Each and every county, town or city, shall have power to provide a hearse and pall for burial of the dead and to procure and hold lands for burying grounds, and to make regulations, and fence the same, and to preserve the monuments erected therein, and to levy and collect the necessary taxes for that purpose, in the same manner as other taxes are levied and collected. [1857, 28, 3; 1 H 2427.  Abb. R. P. Stat p 322, No 443, ss3]

1837.  Any physician or surgeon of this state, or any medical student under the authority of any such physician or surgeon, may obtain, as hereinafter provided, and have in his possession, human dead bodies, or the parts thereof, for the purposes of anatomical inquiry or instruction. [1891, 227, 1; 1 H. 2428]

1838.  Any sheriff, coroner, keeper of a county poor-house, public hospital, county jail, or state prison must surrender the dead bodies of such persons as are required to be buried at the public expense to any physician or surgeon, to be by him used for the advancement of anatomical science, preference being always given to medical schools by law established in this state, for their use in the instruction of medical students.  But if such deceased person during his last sickness requested to be buried, or if within forty-eight hours after his death some person claiming to be of kindred or a friend of the deceased requires the body to be buried, or if such deceased person was a stranger or traveler who suddenly died before making himself known, such dead body must be buried without dissection. [1891, 227, 2; 1 H. 2429]

2430.  Every physician or surgeon before receiving the dead body must give to the board or officer surrendering the same to him a certificate from the medical society of the county in which he resides, or if there is none, from the board of supervisors of the same, that he is a fit person to receive such dead body.   He must also give a bond with two sureties, that each body so by him received will be used only for the promotion of anatomical science, and that it will be used for such purpose in this state only, and so as in no event to outrage the public feeling. [1891, 227, 3; 1 H. 2430]

2431.  Any person violating any provisions of this act shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined in any sum not exceeding five hundred dollars. [1891, 227, 4; 1 H. 2431]

Note: "This act" comprises ss ss 1837-1840.

6458.  If any person not being lawfully authorized, shall willfully dig up, disinter, remove or convey away any human body, or the remains thereof or shall knowingly aid in such disinterment, removal or conveying away, every such offender, and every person accessory thereto, either before or after the fact, shall, upon conviction thereof, be imprisoned in the county jail not exceeding one year, and be fined not exceeding one thousand dollars, or fined only.  [C 1881, 951; 2 H. P. C. 208]

6459.  Every person who shall willfully disfigure, injure or remove any tombstone, monument, fence, tree or shrubbery around or within any cemetery, or shall use such cemetery for another purpose than a burying ground, he shall, upon conviction thereof, be imprisoned in the county jail not exceeding six months, and be fined in any sum not exceeding five hundred dollars, or shall be fined only.