SUMMARY OF ORDINANCES, ETC., RELATING TO THE INSPECTION OF CORPSES AND OF INTERMENTS.

In the sixteenth Council of Milan, Saint Charles Borromeo prohibited burials before twelve hours after ordinary cases of death, and twenty-four hours after cases of sudden death. As early as the sixteenth century serious attention in the examination of the dead was made obligatory by the enactment of Article 149 of the Criminal Statutes of Charles the Fifth. This was the foundation of legal medicine in Germany. In France, a similar ordinance was first established in 1789.

NETHERLANDS.
Act of April 10th, 1869.

No burial is allowed without the written permission of the Civil Recorder, granted upon the production of a certificate of a qualified physician, and not until thirty-six hours have elapsed after death, nor later than the fifth day after death. But this regulation can be set aside, and a longer period allowed, by the Burgomaster, on the application of a doctor.

Dead-houses are in use for bodies dead of infectious diseases.

FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAIN.

Death must first be established by a licensed physician, who carefully examines the body for that purpose, and, if satisfied, then issues a certificate which states the name, age, sex, place, and date, and immediate cause of death. The certificate is taken within twenty-four hours after the death to the Standesamt, where the death is recorded, and a certificate to that effect is given, and presented to the Cemetery Commission, which assigns the place of burial. The corpse is required to remain unburied three days, either at the place of death or at the mortuary, where it is under the observation of attendants; but there is no State-appointed inspector of the dead, nor electric bells or other means for announcing and recording any movements of the body. The system of inspection and certification by qualified physicians, with the delay of three days, and the favourable condition of the dead-houses, have been the means of preventing the living from being mistaken for the dead in a number of cases.

FRANCE.

Interments must not take place, according to Article 77 of the Code Napoleon, before twenty-four hours of death, but in practice it is twenty-four hours after death-notification by the mort-verificateur. During epidemics, or when deaths occur from infectious or contagious diseases, the interments must invariably be made within twenty-four hours of death.

Article 77 of the Civil Code states that “No burial shall take place without an authorisation, on free paper and without expense, of the officer of the Civil State, who will not be empowered to deliver it, unless after having visited the deceased person, nor unless twenty-four hours after the decease, except in cases provided for by the regulations of the police.” It results from this that no corpse can be buried before a minimum delay of twenty-four hours shall have expired after the decease. The formal record of the decease must be made by the officer of the Civil State (the mayor), or, which is what takes place in most of the communes, by a medical man delegated by the mayor, and who takes the title of medical officer of the Civil State.

The Article 77 of the Civil Code is generally strictly observed in Paris and in other cities of France. The obligation to await the delay of twenty-four hours is intended to prevent too hasty burials. One considers, in fact, that that delay is generally necessary in order to be able to have certain proofs of death.

By Article 358 of the Penal Code, the burial of a deceased person without such authorisation is punishable by a maximum period of two months’ imprisonment, and a maximum fine of fifty francs, without prejudice to other criminal proceedings which may be applicable under the circumstances.

Exceptions, however, have been established in certain cases. For example, in times of epidemics, or of too rapid decomposition of the corpse in the usual case, there is urgent need, in fact, to bury the body of a person attacked with a contagious or epidemic malady, in order to suppress one of the causes of propagation of the epidemic, or of the contagion. In the second case, it is understood that one could not keep longer, without danger to the public health, a corpse in complete putrefaction. There is occasion also to observe that, in these circumstances, the end which the legislator has proposed to himself is equally obtained, since there cannot be any doubt as to the real death. However that may be, it is the mayor (officer of the Civil State) to whom it appertains, according to the terms of the Article 77 of the Civil Code, to give authority to bury; and if he gives that authorisation before the expiration of the delay of twenty-four hours, it is after having established by himself, or by the medical officer of the Civil State, the fact of its necessity, resulting from the circumstances of which we have just spoken.

It is to be remarked that the Article 77 fixes a minimum and not a maximum delay. It is always the mayor to whom it appertains to fix the day and the hour of the burial, and there may happen such and such a circumstance which necessitates a delay of the obsequies. The mayor need only assure himself in that case that no danger will result to the public health, which naturally is the case when the corpse is embalmed, or is placed in a leaden coffin.

Outside Paris and other large cities, and especially in the rural districts, much laxity prevails both as to verification of death and the time of burial, and cases of premature burial are not infrequent.

AUSTRIA.

The laws relative to funerals and burials are very strict—perhaps the most thorough in their requirements of any in Europe. They provide for a very careful inspection of the body by medical inspectors, quite independently of the attending physicians, in order to ascertain if the death be absolute. Minute and specific official directions guide them as to the method of examination and the signs of death to be looked for. And they further provide for carrying out any particular method, as to which the deceased may have given directions, in order to prevent a possible revival in the coffin. Should the surviving relatives desire it, a post-mortem operation may be made upon the body, in the presence of the medical inspectors and the police; in which case the heart is pierced through; and a full report of the operations must be forwarded to the civic magistrate. A fee of six florins is allowed for such an operation.

CITY OF VIENNA.

Every death to be inquired into by the municipal physician. The first of five objects is to ascertain whether the person be really dead. In examining whether there are any remaining indications of life, he will rely not upon any one sign, nor even upon putrefaction, but upon the totality of the signs of death. If there are any indications of life remaining, he must at once institute the means of resuscitation approved by science, and continue them until such time as the family medical attendant is assured of their uselessness. If there be any doubt as to the reality of the death, a second inspection of the body is to be made by the municipal physician within twenty-four hours. Burial, as a rule, is not to be until forty-eight hours after death; but the interval may be shortened in cases of infectious diseases or of unusually rapid decomposition.

PROVINCE OF DALMATIA.
Vice-Governor’s Order of 29th April, 1894.

Every death to be inquired into by the parish physician, or a deputy appointed by the mayor. The first of six objects of the inquest is to ascertain whether the person be really dead. In the event of a non-medical examiner discovering signs of life, he is to send for a doctor. Inasmuch as decomposition, the only sure sign of death, is, as a rule, a phenomenon of later occurrence than the time appointed for the inquest (within twelve hours of the notification of death), the examining person must base his certainty of the extinction of life, not upon one sign, but upon the totality of the signs of death.

KINGDOM OF SAXONY.
Law of 20th July, 1850.

The burial of a corpse must not take place until seventy-two hours after death, and the signs of decomposition are clearly visible. Any proposed departure from this rule, in the event of earlier putrefaction, or the absence of decomposition at the end of seventy-two hours, requires the authority of a physician called in. By the above Law, the following Orders are suspended: (1) the Order of 11th February, 1792, concerning the treatment of the dead, and the precautions necessary to prevent the apparently dead from being buried prematurely; (2) the General Order of 13th February, 1801, concerning precautionary measures in the burial of those dead of infectious diseases; (3) the Law of 22nd June, 1841, together with the Administrative Orders, concerning the examination of corpses and the establishment of mortuaries.

CITY OF MUNICH.
Order of 30th October, 1848.

The ordinance hitherto in force, as to making an incision in the sole of the foot in cases of patients who die in the hospitals, is abolished; the hospital physicians to use their discretion whether or not the incision should be made; but, in cases for which is demanded an earlier burial than is usually prescribed, whether they have been hospital or private patients, the incision is to be made in the sole of the foot at the end of the second inspection, and every other means taken to ascertain whether the death be apparent or real.

CALCUTTA.

1. The prevailing custom for Christians and Mahomedans is to bury the dead. The Hindoos burn them as a rule, but many prefer to throw them into a sacred river, particularly the Ganges or its tributaries, if they can do so unmolested by the authorities.

2. There are no mortuaries. The signs which are assumed to indicate death are the various conditions and appearances when animation is suspended.

3. Cases of revival from supposed death are sometimes heard of among the Hindoos, who regard such persons as outcasts. If the signs of returning life are not very manifest when a person begins to revive, he is sometimes killed by stuffing the mouth and nose with mud, which generally accomplishes the object.

BOMBAY.

1. There are no laws or regulations in India for the disposal of the dead. The customs and formalities follow the traditions and requirements of religious belief.

a. The Hindoos burn their dead immediately after death takes place.

b. The Parsees take their dead to a “Tower of Silence” as soon as death takes place, and, after certain prescribed ceremonies, the body is speedily devoured by vultures.

c. The Europeans and Mahomedans bury their dead within from twenty-four to forty-eight hours, because putrefaction usually sets in soon after death on account of the heat and humidity of the climate.

2. There are no mortuaries, excepting in connection with hospitals, where observations can be made.

CAPE TOWN, AFRICA.

1. There are no laws nor regulations relative to the disposal of the dead, excepting in cases requiring an inquest or post-mortem examination. The custom is to bury within twenty-four to thirty hours after death, but the time is sometimes extended to two or three days.

2. There are no dead-houses, except at the hospitals, which are under the management of the superintendent.

3. The certificate of the medical attendant is sufficient for burial purposes. The complete cessation of respiration and the heart’s action are considered an absolute indication of death. When decomposition sets in, it usually appears within twenty-four hours after death, although in winter that process may be longer delayed.

MOSCOW.

Orthodox Russians keep their dead three days before burial. During that time the body lies with the face uncovered, and a deacon chants and prays over it twice a day. A medical certificate of death is imperative before burial.

BRUSSELS.

Burials are regulated by the Communal Council in accordance with law. The system is complicated, but thorough. The medical men connected with the Government Medical Service (“Doctors of the Civil Government”) have the sole control of the examinations of deaths, as well as births, accidents, sudden deaths, suicides; and attend to burials, autopsies, postponements of burials, etc., on their own motion. Interments usually take place within forty-eight hours of death, but they may be carried out sooner during epidemics for the public safety.

There are mortuaries in the city and suburbs, to which bodies may be taken at the request of surviving relatives, or by the order of the health authorities, according to private necessities or for the public safety. Except by the special authorisation of the officers of the civil government, bodies cannot remain in the mortuaries longer than forty-eight hours; and a burial cannot take place in less than twenty-four hours. Special care is taken to test the reality of death in still-born infants, and efforts are made to revive them, as well as all other cases of seeming death. In cases of women dying during advanced pregnancy, the infant must be roused by artificial respiration, in order to restore animation if possible. The process for obtaining a delay for burial is intricate and cumbersome, and to a foreigner unaccustomed to the language and the local usages the chances would be against securing such a permit before the time allowed for burial had transpired.

DENMARK.

Mortuaries are connected with all the churches, cemeteries, and some of the hospitals, and are growing in favour in the country places; but as yet they are unprovided with any appliances for the resuscitation of the apparently dead, or for the prevention of premature burials. No corpse, however, is allowed to be taken to a mortuary before it has been inspected, and a death-certificate issued by a qualified physician; but, when this is done, death is considered absolute. No corpse is allowed to remain in any church, chapel, or mortuary longer than seven days after supposed death, without special permission. Coffins that contain bodies which have died from infectious diseases must be so indicated, and cannot be opened in the mortuaries.

As a rule, bodies are kept seventy-two hours before burial. The signs that are considered sufficient to establish death are the glazed appearance of the eyes, livid spots on the skin, and muscular rigidity. In doubtful cases, the time before burial can be extended by authority of the Board of Health, of which the Police Director is a member.

SPAIN.

Burials usually do not take place until twenty-four hours after death. For example, if a death takes place about four p.m., the burial is made late in the following afternoon. In time of epidemic, bodies are hurried to the cemeteries, where depositories are provided, which are under the care of watchers until the expiration of twenty-four hours after death. The certificate of a reputable physician as to death is sufficient to authorise burial. Relatives or friends usually remain with the body until burial, excepting in cases when judicial proceedings are held over it to determine the circumstances of the death.

IRELAND.

There are no laws in Ireland regarding the disposal of the dead, but the Sanitary Acts of the United Kingdom can be applied in any case within a reasonable period, on the ground of public health. There is no fixed period for keeping a body before burial. The Roman Catholics usually bury on the third or fourth day after death; but in some districts custom sanctions burial within twenty-four or thirty-six hours. Local burial authorities sometimes require a medical certificate before burial, but, there being no legal obligation for it, this is often omitted. In cases of suicide, sudden death, or death by violence, the Coroner holds an inquest, and gives a certificate accordingly.

There are no dead-houses in Ireland, where bodies may be observed for a period of time before burial.

Concerning burials in England, see Glen’s “Burial Acts” for the general burial practice; also “Regulations for Wilton Cemetery.”

THE UNITED STATES.

In the United States of America, as a rule, everything relative to the disposal of the dead is regulated by local Boards of Health, as authorised by State laws. A burial cannot take place without a certificate from a legally licensed physician, which must state the cause of death; the place and time when it occurred; the full name; age; sex; colour; occupation; birth-place; names and birth-places of both parents. There are no laws or regulations that require the inspection of the body to verify the fact of death (the certificate, as in England, as to the cause is considered sufficient for this purpose), and no time is fixed when a body must, or must not, be buried. This is regulated by, and left to, the convenience of the family of the deceased, by the season of the year, by the opinion of the attending physician, etc. But the Health Officers can order the burial whenever, in their opinion, the public health requires it. As a rule, burials after supposed death are made sooner in the South, and among the poor, than in the North, and among the well-to-do classes. In remote unsettled regions burials not seldom take place without these formalities, and they are often carried out in a hasty manner; but usually they do not take place till three days after supposed death, and sometimes, particularly in cold weather, a longer time is allowed. All large cemeteries have chambers for the temporary deposit of bodies, but they are not under observation, as it is taken for granted that they are dead.