CREMATION, and FUNERAL RITES.
See Sir R. J. Phillimore, Ecclesiastical Law (2nd ed., ; J. B. Little, The Law of Burial (1901) ; E. Austin, Burial Grounds and Cemeteries (1907); Lord Parmoor, Law of Church and Clergy (7th ed., 1921) . (G. G. P.) United States.—Burial in the United States is carried out in three ways—earth burial, reposal in crypts in mausolea and cremation. Cremation accounts for only about 15,000 "burials" annually in this country. By far the greatest number of burials is in the earth, although it is true that the mausoleum idea is fast growing, due to the fact that land in metropolitan areas is becoming too valuable to be devoted to cemetery purposes. It is growing, too, because many people find the large marble and granite edifices, beautiful architecturally, and free from the con taminating influences of earth and water, have a strong psycholog ical appeal as compared with the seemingly colder idea of earth burial.
Earth burials in the United States, compared with burials of half a century ago, have become a matter of gradually increasing refinement. Bodies are now encased in caskets of fine wood or metals; some of them made on special order are works of art cost ing, at times, many thousands of dollars. There is a growing cus tom of encasing the casket in a water-tight vermin-proof steel vault, affording greater protection to the body and casket in the ground. No longer does one see the hideous shaped coffins of pine, painted black or brown that were in use 5o years ago ; nor does one see the coffin lowered into the grave by straps, but upon an automatic lowering device which slowly conveys the casket beyond the sight of those standing about. Clods of earth are not thrown into the grave on the casket, a bouquet of flowers serving the purpose of "dust to dust." Artificial grass covers the soil from the grave while the brief service is being pronounced, and a large special tent breaks the rays of the sun or protects from inclement weather. Motor driven equipment has replaced the old horse drawn hearse and hacks. The dingy "funeral parlours" have given way to the tasteful modern funeral home or mortuary. Gradually an increasing number of funerals are being held from these places instead of from the private home or the church. It is now almost a fixed custom to take the dead body from the place of death to the mortuary where it is made ready for burial. Very rarely now is the body removed from the mortuary until it is conveyed to the cemetery.
In the United States, as in most countries, every person has an inherent right of burial. The Jewish rites among the orthodox must take place within 24 hours of death, and the funeral and burial are most simple. Embalming is not done with this class; burial is only in a Jewish cemetery. Many Catholics still make use of the "wake," and burial takes place only in consecrated grounds ; that is, in a Catholic cemetery. None outside the pale of the Roman Catholic church may be interred in a Catholic cemetery. Prot estants make use of all three forms of burial, and, with the Catholics, usually wait the customary three days after death before interment.
While all men are entitled to a Christian burial, there are those who do not receive it. Those who are executed by the State for crimes committed, and whose bodies are not claimed by relatives or friends ; those who meet death by violence and whose bodies cannot be identified after a stated period of time, and those who will their bodies to science. Many of these find their way to the dissecting tables. The bars are raised against the burial of no man in a Protestant cemetery if family or friends can meet the expense of a burial plot. Even the potter's field is usually attached to the cemetery proper, wherein are buried by the city or town those who cannot provide funds for a family plot or a single grave.
For the most part common law obtains in the United States in most matters pertaining to burials, although in various States the common law has been changed and extended by legislative acts. This is particularly true regarding rights of burial. In all States a burial cannot be made until the last physician attending a case has made a certificate as to the cause of death. With this in hand the funeral director secures from the city or town clerk, or other legal registrar, a burial permit. The sexton of the cemetery will not prepare a grave without the burial permit, nor allow a funeral party to enter the grounds of the cemetery. A disinterment for reinterment in the same cemetery, or in a distant cemetery, can not be made without a special permit, usually at the hands of the local board of health.
Funerals and burials of bodies dead of a contagious or com municable disease must be private, and in some cases within 12 hours. No funeral is permitted for those dying from certain causes. Shipment of such cases must be in metal-lined containers, and in case of certain diseases may not be shipped beyond the confines of the town or city. While embalming as a general proposition is not required by law, it is in almost universal practice in the U.S.A. The transportation of bodies dead of smallpox, Asiatic cholera, yellow fever, typhus fever or bubonic plague, is absolutely forbidden. The bodies of those who have died from diphtheria (membraneous croup), scarlet fever (scarlatina, scarlet rash), glanders, anthrax or leprosy, are not accepted for transportation unless prepared for shipment by being thoroughly disinfected by an arterial and cavity injection with an approved disinfectant fluid and washed with a disinfectant, all of the work being done by a licensed embalmer. The body must then be enclosed in an air-tight, hermetically sealed metal container. In case of typhoid fever, puerperal fever, erysipelas, tuberculosis and measles and other dangerous communicable diseases, not mentioned above, the body may be prepared by cavity embalming if it can reach its destination within 48 hours; otherwise both arterial and cavity embalming must be employed. A body dying from non-contagious or noncommunicable diseases may be shipped without the above precautions in a sound metal or wooden container if destination can be reached in 3o hours ; otherwise sanitary precautions must be taken. An attendant may not accompany a body dead of con tagious or communicable diseases unless he shall have taken proper sanitary precautions.
In determining who shall have the right to bury a dead human body, and upon whom falls the duty, the courts have brought out the commonly accepted ruling that a body has no value in a com mercial sense ; it cannot be attached, conveyed or taken on exe cution. In the case of Bogart v. The City of Indianapolis it was laid down "that the bodies of the dead belong to the surviving relations, in the order of inheritance as property, and that they have the right to dispose of them as such, within restrictions analogous to those by which the disposition of other property is regulated." That is, the husband or wife have first word as to the disposition of the remains of the other; children come second, and other relatives in the order of blood succession. Coroners for the purpose of an inquest possess priority over all others but only for that purpose, and during the time of an inquest. In case of a person meeting death by violence, or in some hidden manner, and identification of the victim cannot be established, then the coroner may order burial in the potter's field or the body may be sent to a definite institution for scientific uses. Captains of ocean-going vessels by common consent through the ages have had the right personally to attend to the burial of persons dying on their ships. They are also given that right by an Arizona statute. However, sea burials possess a great horror for those not living on the high seas, and most liners now possess facilities for embalming bodies, and they are delivered to the authorities at the home port. Surviving relations have the right to call for a post mortem examination, to select the kind of casket for burial, to determine the plans for the funeral and interment, and incident ally are held responsible for the cost. In the United States a man may by will determine the final disposition of his own remains, and to a limited extent this wish is usually respected.
Generally speaking the right to bury does not extend to a second burial ; however, disinterments may be made upon the proper showing to a local board of health. If there be any contention among members of a family over removal of a body from one cemetery to another, it is a matter for court decision. Precedents have been established on this point in the courts of New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Missouri.
It has been established that a pauper parent is not obliged to bury his deceased child if he is not financially able; he need not even incur future financial obligation by borrowing money to take care of the expense, but may call upon the proper civic authorities to bear the burden. Neglect on the part of financially able parents or other relatives, properly to dispose of a dead body is a criminal offence in some States, punishable by a fine three times the cost of the burial. The expenses of any funeral constitute a priority charge against an estate whether specifically so stated in a will or not. Many probate courts have established a custom of allowing only a "reasonable charge" as the proper cost of a funeral, in case of a court contention, although no statute has ever been set up to govern the matter of the amount of charges for a funeral and the consequent burial. (H. J. D.)