PUBLIC HEALTH ACT LXXXI. And for the purpose of preventing the 1848. manifold evils occasioned by the retention of the Reception dead in the dwellings of the poor,-Be it enacted, the Dead. That the local board of health may, if they shall Houses for may provide premises for the tempo tion of the dead previously to interment, and may arrange for Local board think fit, provide, fit up, and make bye laws with respect to the management and charges for the use rary recep- of, rooms or premises in which corpses may be received and decently and carefully kept previously to interment; and the said local board may, upon the interment proper application, and subject to such regulations. and at such rates and charges as shall be prescribed by any such bye laws (r), make all necessary arrangements for the decent and economical interment of any corpse which may have been received into any rooms or premises so provided in pursuance of this enactment (s). of corpses received therein. Burial Grounds, &c. Upon certificate of the general board that any burial LXXXII. And be it enacted, That if— Upon the representation of the local board of health, and after inquiry and report by a superintending inspector, notified to the lord bishop (r) As to bye laws in general, see post, s. 115, pp. 163-165. (s) See some striking evidence upon this subject in Mr. Chadwick's report upon interment in towns, pp. 31-46, (8vo. ed.) Provisions for a similar object are contained in the City of London Sewers Act, 1848, s. 89, and by s. 90 of that Act, the medical officers may order the removal of corpses to rooms provided for the temporary reception of the dead. See the evidence (in the report just referred to, pp. 46-9) tending to show that the prolonged retention of the dead in the dwellings of the poor is occasioned to a great degree by the difficulty of raising the usually extravagant expense of funerals. c. 63. ground, &c. to health, &c. of the diocese, and made, notified, and published 11 & 12 VICT. means of exist within distance, further interment therein to be except in may be the certi The said general board shall certify (such certi- prohibited; ficate to be published in the London Gazette, and so far as in some one or more of the public newspapers allowed by usually circulated within the district) that any ficate. burial ground situate within any district to which this Act is applied is in such a state as to be dangerous to the health of persons living in the neighbourhood thereof, or that any church or other place of public worship within any such district is dangerous to the health of persons frequenting the same, by reason of the surcharged state of the vaults or graves within the walls of or underneath the same, and that sufficient means of interment exist within (t) The inquiry must be a public one (s. 8, ante, p. 19); and fourteen days' notice of intention to make it, and of a time and place at which the inspector will be prepared to hear all persons desirous of being heard before him, must have been previously given; and such notice must be advertized in one or more newspapers usually circulated in the parish or place to which the place of worship or burial ground in respect of which inquiry is to be made belongs, and must also be affixed to the doors of the principal churches, chapels, buildings, and places where notices are usually affixed within the same parish or place. The report must be in writing and made to the general board of health, and must be published in the parish or place just referred to in such manner as the general board shall direct. PUBLIC HEALTH ACT 1848. Penalty. Interments within newly built churches a convenient distance from such burial ground, church, or place of public worship, it shall not be lawful, after a time to be named in such certificate, to bury or permit or suffer to be buried any further corpses or coffins in, within, or under the ground, church, or place of worship to which the certificate relates, except in so far as may be allowed by such certificate (u); And whosoever, after notice of such certificate, buries, or causes, permits, or suffers to be buried, any corpse or coffin contrary to this enactment, shall for every such offence be liable to a penalty of twenty pounds (v). grave LXXXIII. And be it enacted, that no vault or shall be constructed or made within the walls prohibited; of or underneath any church or other place of public worship built in any district after the passing of and no burial ground to be this Act: And no burial ground shall be made or formed newly formed within any district after the passing of this Act, without con sent of gene- without the consent of the general board of health ral board. (u) This exception is for the purpose of enabling the general board to reserve existing rights of interment in family vaults, where it appears that further interment therein would not be prejudicial to health. The City of London Sewers Act, 1848, prohibits interment in graves in which there would not be as much as five feet of soil between the coffin and the ordinary surface of the burial ground, but expressly provides that the prohibition shall not apply to vaults or catacombs, ss. 110, 112. (v) As to the recovery and application of these penalties, see ss. 129, 133, post, pp. 181, 185. Prohibition of Vaults, &c. in New Churches, &c. 131 c. 63. first had and obtained, unless the same be made or 11 & 12 VICT. formed upon land purchased, or authorized by par liament to be appropriated, for the purpose of being used as a burial ground before the passing of this Act (w); And whosoever shall bury, or cause, permit, or Penalties. suffer to be buried, any corpse or coffin in any vault, grave, or burial ground constructed, made, or formed contrary to this enactment, shall for every such offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding fifty pounds, which may be recovered by any person, with full costs of suit, in an action of debt. &c. of LXXXIV. And be it enacted, that the local board Purchase, of health, by agreement, may purchase, or take upon lease, sell, or exchange, any lands or premises for Local boards the purposes of this Act; Lands. may purchase lands, &c. under Lands Clauses And the Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, 1845,- respect to the purchase and taking of lands Vict. c. 18: Shall, in so far as the same is consistent with parts of that Act incorpo rated with (w) This clause was framed not only with the view of pre- this. venting the formation of additional burial grounds in populous localities, but also for the purpose of securing proper site, soil, and aspect, as to the importance of which see Mr. Chadwick's report upon interment in towns, pp. 127-132 (8vo. ed). PUBLIC this Act, be incorporated with this Act; and for HEALTH ACT 1848. Lands, &c. may be board of non corporate districts as a body corporate. the purposes of this Act the expression "the promoters of the undertaking," wherever used in the said Lands Clauses Consolidation Act, shall mean the local board of health mentioned in this Act; And all lands and premises which shall be purheld by local chased, hired, or taken on lease by the local board of health of any non-corporate district shall be conveyed, demised, and assured to such local board and their successors, in trust for the purposes of this Act, and shall be accepted, taken, and held by them as a body corporate (x). Contracts. LXXXV. And be it enacted (y), that the local Local board board of health may enter into all such contracts as may be necessary for carrying this Act into execution; may enter into contracts. Form and particulars of contracts above 101. And every such contract whereof the value or amount shall exceed ten pounds, (x) A similar clause enabling the churchwardens and overseers of the poor to take lands, &c. as a body corporate for certain purposes is contained in the Act 59 Geo. 3, c. 12, s. 17. The provision does not constitute the board a corporation, but merely invests them with certain facilities which they would have enjoyed if they had been so constituted. (y) The several provisions in this clause were framed upon ss. 56-58 of the Commissioners Clauses Act, 1847, with the exception of the provisions relating to the surveyor's estimate and report, which were framed upon s. 27 of the Towns Improvement Clauses Act, 1847. Similar provisions will be found in the Metropolitan Sewers Act (11 & 12 Vict. c. 112, s. 65), and in the City of London Sewers Act, 1848, ss. 33-37. |