Thirdly, bow far the desires of the decedent should prevail against those of a surviving husband or wife is an open question, but as against- remoter connections, such wishes, es pecially if strongly and recently expressed, should usually prevail. Fourthly, with re-1 gard to a re-interment in a different place, the same rules should apply, but with a pre sumption against removal growing stronger with the remoteness of connection with the decedent and reserving always the right of the court to require reasonable cause to be shown for it ; Pettigrew v. Pettigrew, 207 Pa. 313, 56 Atl. 878, 64 L. R. A. 179, 99 Am. St. Rep. 795.
Where a deceased person had not lived with his wife and there was no executor or administrator, his sister was permitted to control his burial ; Kitchen v. Wilkinson, 26 Pa. Super. Ct. 75.
The leaving unburied the corpse of a per sonfor whom the defendant is bound to vide Christian burial, as a wife or child, is an indictable misdemeanor, if he is shown to have been of ability to provide such burial ; 2 Den. C. C. 325; or preventing a dead body from being buried ; 2 Term 734 ; 4 East 460; 1 Russ. Cr. 415, n.; or interring one found in a river without first sending for the coroner ; 1 Ld. Ken. 250; or to cast one Into a river; Kanavan's Case, 1 Greenl.
(Me.) 226. And every householder in whose house a dead body lies is bound by the com mon law, if he has the means to do so, to inter the body decently; and this principle applies where a person dies in the house of a parish or a union; 12 A. & E. 773. The expense for such burial may be paid out of the effects of deceased; 3 Camp. 298.
It is the duty of the coroner after death by violence to cause an autopsy to be made; the surgeon who makes it can recover from the county for his labor ; Allegheny County v. Shaw, 34 Pa. 301; Board of Com'rs of Bartholomew County v. Jameson, 86 Ind. 154. If the work be done with ordinary care, he is not liable to the family for a mutilation of the body, even though acting without their consent ; Young v. College of Physicians & Surgeons, 81 Md. 358, 32 Atl. 177, 31 L. R. A. 540; and though he removes and keeps in his possession by direction of the coroner, portions of the body ; Palmer v. Broder, 78 Wis. 483, 47 N. W. 744. Where a rule of a board of health requires a cer tificate•as to the cause of death before Is suing a burial permit, an attending physi cian is not liable for performing an autopsy without the family's consent ; Meyers v. Clarke, 122 Ky. 866, 90 S. W. 1049, 93 S.