It is an historic principle of English common law that there is no property in a dead body. No one owns the body of a person who has just died: “the only lawful possessor of a corpse is the earth.”
When this law was established a dead body was, indeed, “worthless”. The only thing to do with it was dispose of it by means of “lawful and decent burial” – according to the rites of the established Church, of course.
Over time the law in this area has become vague and inconsistent and new laws are needed to make sense of things as they are now. Today, dead bodies do have potential value. A dead body can be used for medical research, as a teaching aid, for tissue donation or as an anatomical exhibit. What’s more, it is now possible to convert a dead body into a piece of property by “work or skills” – such as Bodyworlds.
If it is simply your intention to arrange for someone who has died to be buried or cremated, all you need to know is that the law recognises the right of certain people to take possession of a dead body without delay. Note: taking possession is not the same thing as having ownership.
The law assumes that the person who assumes the right to take possession of a dead body recognises a duty to dispose of it. In most cases, this is exactly what the possessor does – but you don’t have to.
It is unlawful to:
Detain a body (against, say, the payment of a debt).
Refuse to deliver a body to the executors for burial
Conspire to prevent a lawful and decent burial
Dispose of a body to prevent an inquest
Sell a body for dissection
Expose a body in a public place if to do so would shock public decency
For more information on the legal status of a dead body, click here.
My mother died 16/12/2020.
She doed at home in her bed of old age (86)
She was in life a controversial contemporary artist who had previously exhibited her womb ovaries and fallopian tubes as an artwork in a gallery.
She wished to be Mummified as an artwork and also in line with her religious beliefs.
She made a will appointing me as her only executor and also closest kin.
Under common law a persons body can be disposed of through preservation.
There is no legal duty to have a funeral nor even a burial or cremation.
I have faced having over a dozen police at my door allready.
After much discussion they agreed with me and left.I also had a phone call and visit by a police mental health team to check my sanity.
They agreed i was sane and left.
Now the local council social services are pursuing mental unstable claims and environmental health risk and public decency issues.
My mothers remains are in our detatched bungalow in her bed as preservation takes place. The doors are locked and covered by a door curtain all curtains and blinds are kept closed. Our bungalow is a long way from any neighbouring abode.
The whole affair is very private.
The bungalow is private property absolute title freehold with no restrictive covenants regarding dead bodies.
The council have already agreed that burial in the garden is acceptable.
The environmental health officer told the police there were no environmental or health hazards.
The issue it would appear is my intention to mummify her remains and place in a shrine in my home and at future dates exhibit the shrine containing her mummified remains as an artwork of our shared religion which is and will be deeply sacred to me and to my mothers spirit and memory.
It will be a memorial to her as she becomes an artwork, which is something she wanted when still alive.
I am concerned that the children of my deceased husband can move his remains against my wishes if I remarry
Spot on with tһis write-up, I absolutеly think thіs site needs a ⅼot more
attention. I’ll probabⅼy be back again to read through more, tһanks for the info!
Yes I had a funeral home bury my husband without me and I would like to know what that would be called we are married we were living together so would that be like malpractice or what something I don’t know we’re trying to figure it out because what they did was wrong dead wrong
Do parents have a right to see their adult child’s body in spite of their child becoming estranged?
Thank you.