5 laws on the deceased, which can scare you

Throughout his life, every person meets with death, and, as a rule, this happens more than once. That's why there are special laws regulating what happens to the body of a person after death. And in addition to normative acts, in this respect there are some serious omissions.

1. What happens to a person's body after his death: the basics

Respect for the deceased and caring for the mental and physical health of others make funerals or cremation of the body a necessity. Certain aspects are carefully regulated, for example, the minimum depth of the grave, the location and rules for the functioning of cemeteries and crematoria. But there are relatively few laws regarding how the process of corpse disposal takes place. For example, there is no specific timetable for the duration of the burial or cremation.

A funeral in a church or city cemetery is not the only possible option. Spontaneous burial in the fields, on the water or even on their own land of family members (in the garden, on the farm or in the backyard) is entirely permissible. Cremation, however, should only be carried out in crematoriums specially created for this purpose. The law was changed at the request of representatives of the Hindu and Sikh communities. Funeral bonfires are allowed for these categories of citizens in America, but only in enclosed spaces.

Also, there are no requirements for compulsory treatment of the deceased's relatives in the funeral home. And British law does not insist on embalming, if the body was moved from one country to another. And while the human body must be "decently protected", the coffin is also not mandatory. In fact, a shroud, cardboard box or wicker basket can be used if they are of suitable size. But with respect to the burial on the water regulations are still present: for this you need a coffin of a strictly certain type.

2. Two new opportunities

Although burial and cremation remain the most popular, there are two more new options for getting rid of the body. Resumption is available in some states of the US and Australia. It is a liquefaction of organic substances of the body, produced by hydrolysis in a steel container. As a result, only sterile liquid and fragments of bones remain that can be transferred to relatives (similar to ashes after cremation).

Promsiya - a way that is still at the development stage. It consists in the use of liquid nitrogen, by means of which the remains are frozen and become so fragile that they can be destroyed by ultrasound. Result: there is no smell, and organic residues turn into a powder, after the water evaporates. On a commercial basis, this method will soon be available in the UK. Interestingly, the name "promessa" came from the Italian promessa and is interpreted as a symbolic promise to return the ashes to the land from which it came out.

3. When your desires do not count

Expressed in the verbal form of a person's instructions about how and where he would like to be buried, do not have legal force. Relatives of the deceased themselves can dispose of his body and choose the way and place of burial.

After the death of a person within his family, a fierce debate may begin about what to do with the body. Of course, if a person leaves a will, the situation is somewhat simplified: his relatives learn about the last will of the deceased and can listen to him and act with the body as a departed member of their family would like. But if nothing is known about the preferred method and place of burial, the law comes into force.

Dispose of the body of a person can be his immediate heir. According to the current English legislation, they are survived by the deceased spouse. Secondly, these are children, then parents, brothers and sisters or other family members. Companions do not have the right to dispose of the body of the deceased, regardless of how many years they spent together.

If the relatives of the deceased are in conflict because of the upcoming funeral and are in the same rank of the "rank" described above, the English legislation does not give an unambiguous answer about how to proceed. As a rule, in such cases, the case is decided in court. Other countries have special legislative acts in this respect. For example, in some provinces of Canada, the final decision is made by the senior family member (for example, the elder sister or the brother of the deceased), and in several American states the priority is given to that member of the family who was closest to the deceased during his lifetime.

4. Exhumation of the body

In August 2015, the English church opposed the so-called exhumation on demand. However, many people when moving to a new place of residence want to take with them and the remains of their loved ones. Exhumation of the corpse requires legal permission, and in England and Wales the probability of a positive decision by the court depends on where the person was buried.

If the grave is on unconsecrated land, then the Ministry of Justice is required to conduct exhumation. But if the site is sanctified, then permission must be obtained in the church, and it is much more difficult to do this. And given that many city cemeteries are not fully consecrated (for example, only in the older part), sometimes the regulation of this issue causes difficulties, since some sites belong to the church and others to the Ministry of Justice, and they are located at the same time Can be a couple of meters apart. Some of the religious currents also strongly oppose the exhumation.

5. Problems of the New Century

Gone are the days when in memory of the deceased erected only gravestones over the grave. There was a digital era, and now memorials appear even on Facebook. Instead of simply deleting the page of the deceased, relatives will transform it. Friends of the deceased in the social network can still send messages to him and leave their condolences to their relatives.

Questions often arise not only about how ethically to write a deceased person, but also about how reliable the content, which seems to be placed on its pages by dead people. At the moment there are no legal rules that prescribe how to proceed with the deceased's account, but Internet service providers and representatives of social network administrations solve these issues when contacting relatives in the support service.

Conclusion

Death is not only tragic and sad. It also has a special aesthetics. As we see, each country in its own way regulates the fate of the human body and the relationship between the deceased's relatives. As it seems, many of these laws, while seemingly shocking, are in fact quite understandable and logical.