Wednesday 4 February 2015

Malta - Graves

"Times of Malta"
2004

"Owning a grave does not mean that problems could not arise and is not a guarantee that a person will definitely be buried there. Mr Attard Kingswell explained that if a grave is not separated in sections, then a year has to pass between one burial and another. However, he said, most private graves have three compartments. The lower compartment is usually used as an ossuary - where the bones are put after the grave is cleaned - but could take up to one coffin. He explained that this compartment is sealed with stone slabs and burials usually take place in the middle compartment, which can take up to two coffins. The second level is also sealed with stone slabs so that the top level can be used if the necessary time frame to open the main compartment has not passed. He said that as long as the section was sealed off, and there were no coffins in the section being opened, a burial could take place at any time.

Thursday 8 January 2015

"Negroes, Indians"

"The Clergyman's Hand-book of Law"
Charles M. Scanlan
1909
Project Gutenburg









456. Negroes, Indians.—The fact that a man is a negro, Indian, or other racial human being, is not good ground to prevent his burial in a cemetery.

Tuesday 6 January 2015

Nuisance, Public Health, Disease.




434. Nuisance, Public Health, Disease.—A cemetery is not a nuisance per se, but if it is proved that the burial of dead bodies in a certain cemetery does injure the public health and is a fruitful source of transmission of disease, the State may prohibit such burial at certain places within cities or adjacent to dwellings. But unless authorized by the Legislature a council has no right by ordinance to provide that no one shall be buried within half a mile of any habitation or public thoroughfare. And where the Legislature authorized a city to remove the bodies interred and allow streets through the land, it had authority to do so.

Well Pollution


"The Clergyman's Hand-book of Law"
Charles M. Scanlan
1909
Project Gutenburg





431. Well, Pollution.—And where a man had built a dwelling near a cemetery, it was not good ground for him to prevent the enlargement of the cemetery by showing that it might destroy his well. The court questions whether there is any legal ground for complaint for the pollution of subterranean waters when caused by the proper use without negligence of the adjacent premises. Additional lands may be obtained under the law of eminent domain by condemnation.

Friday 2 January 2015

Tombstones - soldiers

"The Clergyman's Hand-book of Law"
Charles M. Scanlan
1909
Project Gutenburg





423.Tombstones, Soldiers.—The United States will erect tombstones at the graves of soldiers who served in the Civil War, in all cemeteries where their graves are unmarked. Wherever the United States has jurisdiction over cemeteries, it has made it a criminal offense punishable by fine or imprisonment to deface a tombstone.757
[pg 223]
424. Indigent Soldiers, Tombstones.—Most of the States have statutes providing for the burial of indigent soldiers and for putting tombstones at their graves. The attention of relatives of deceased soldiers should be called to it.