vice and colour to receive the sum stated under different pretences, but in truth for the brokerage and soliciting of the loan, in fraud of the act of Parliament. This decision was confirmed by the Court, who were of opinion that the material question was, whether more than ten shillings in the 100%. was taken by the defendant; and that it was not necessary to prove that he took the exact sum laid in the indictment, though it was not laid with a scilicet. (m) The venue in an action for usury upon the 12 Anne, c. 16, must be laid in the county where the usurious interest was received. (n) rupt contract for it. It should seem also that an indictment for usury must be preferred in the county where the usurious interest is received, as Rex. v. Buttery, cited by Abbott, C. J., in Rex v. Burdett, 4 B. & Ald. 179, was relied upon as the nearest case: and there it was held, that an indictment for false pretences must be preferred in the county where the money was received, and not in that where the false pretences were made. C. S. G. Taking up dead bodies, even for the purposes of dissection, is an indictable offence. CHAPTER THE THIRTY-EIGHTH. OF OFFENCES RELATING TO DEAD BODIES. It has been holden that it is an indictable offence to take up a dead body, even for the purpose of dissection. Upon an indictment for this offence it was moved, in arrest of judgment, that if it were any crime, it was one of ecclesiastical cognizance only; that it was not made penal by any statute; and that the silence of Stamford, Hale, and Hawkins, upon this subject, afforded a very strong argument to shew that there was no such offence cognizable in the criminal courts. But the Court said, "that common decency required that the practice should be put a stop to: that the offence was cognizable in a criminal Court, as being highly indecent, and contra bonos mores; at the bare idea alone of which nature revolted. That the purpose of taking up the body for dissection did not make it less an indictable offence: and that, as it had been the regular practice of the Old Bailey, in modern times, to try charges of this nature, many of which had induced punishment, the circumstance of no writ of error having been brought to reverse any of these judgments was a strong proof of the universal opinion of the profession upon this subject; and they, therefore, refused even to grant a rule to show cause, lest that alone should convey to the public an idea that they entertained a doubt respecting the crime alleged." (a) To sell the dead body of a capital convict for the purposes of dissection, where dissection is no part of the sentence, is a misdemeanor, and indictable at common law. (b) It is an offence against decency to take a person's dead body, with intent to sell or dispose of it for gain and profit. An indictment charged (inter alia) that the prisoner a certain dead body of a person unknown lately before deceased, wilfully, unlawfully, and indecently, did take and carry away, with intent to sell and dispose of the same for gain and profit: and it being evident that the prisoner had taken the body from some burial ground, though from what particular place was uncertain, he was found guilty upon this count. And it was considered that this was so clearly an indictable offence, that no case was reserved. (c) (a) Rex v. Lynn, 2 T. Rep. 733. 1 Leach, 497. 2 East, P. C. c. 16, s. 89, p. 652. The defendant was only fined five marks, on the ground that he might possibly have committed the crime merely from ignorance, as no person had been before punished for the offence in that court. In 4 Bla. Com. 236, 237, stealing a corpse is mentioned as a matter of great indecency; and the law of the Franks is mentioned, (as in Montesqu. Sp. L. b. 30, ch. 19), which directed, that a person who had dug a corps out of the ground, in order to strip it, should be banished from society, and no one suffered to relieve his wants till the relations of the deceased consented to his re-admission. (b) Rex v. Cundick, D. & R. N. P. C., 13, Graham, B. (c) Rex v. Gilles, cor. Bayley, J. Northumberland Spring Ass. 1820. MS. Bayley, J. Russ. & Ry. 366, note (b). And see Rex v. Duffin, Russ. & Ry. 365. or The refusal neglect to bodies is a mis bury dead The refusal or neglect to bury dead bodies by those whose duty it is to perform the office, appears also to have been considered as a misdemeanor. Thus, Abney J., in delivering the opinion of the Court of Common Pleas, said, "The burial of the dead is, (as I demeanor. apprehend,) the duty of every parochial priest and minister; and if he neglect or refuse to perform the office, he may, by the express words of Canon 86, be suspended by the Ordinary for three months. And if any temporal inconvenience arise, as a nuisance, from the neglect of the interment of the dead corpse, he is punishable also by the temporal Courts, by indictment or information.” (d) It has recently been determined, after elaborate argument, that a child who has received the outward and visible form of baptism by a dissenting minister, not being a lawful minister of the Church of England, nor episcopally ordained, is to be considered as baptized, and is entitled to have the burial service read at its interment by the clergyman of the parish in which it dies; and that the refusal to read the service over a child so baptized brings the party so refusing within the provisions of the 86th Canon, and the Court is bound to pronounce that the party is subject to suspension for three months, and also to the costs of the proceedings. (e) tary of State may grant The 2 & 3 Wm. 4, c. 75, "an act for regulating schools of ana- 2 & 3 Wm. 4, tomy," authorizes the Secretary of State for the Home Department c. 75. Secreto grant "a license to practise anatomy to any fellow or member of any college of physicians or surgeons, or to any graduate or licentiate licenses to in medicine, or to any person lawfully qualified to practise medicine practise in any part of the United Kingdom, or to any professor or teacher of anatomy. anatomy, medicine, or surgery, or to any student attending any school of anatomy, on application from such party for such purpose, countersigned by two of his Majesty's justices of the peace acting for the county, city, borough, or place wherein such party resides, certifying that, to their knowledge or belief, such party so applying is about to carry on the practice of anatomy." By sec. 2, the Secretary of State may appoint inspectors of places where anatomy is carried on; and by sec. 3, may direct what district such inspectors shall superintend. By sec. 4, every inspector is to make a quarterly return to the Secretary of State of every body that, during the preceding quarter, has been removed for examination to every separate place in his district where anatomy is carried on, distinguishing the sex, and, as far as is known at the time, the name and age of each person whose body was so removed. By sec. 5, inspectors may visit and inspect, at any time, any place within their district, notice of which place has been given, that it is therein intended to practise anatomy. By sec. 7, "it shall be lawful for (d) Andrews v. Cawthorne, Willes, 537, note (a). Abney, J., cited a case, H. 7 G. 1, B. R. where that court made a rule upon the rector of Daventry, in Northamptonshire, to shew cause why an information should not be filed, because he neglected to bury a poor parishioner who died in that parish. See this case as stated in Mastin v. Escott, reported by Dr. Curteis, p. 268, and the affidavits used in it, in the Appendix to that case, p. 291, et seq. (e) Mastin v. Escott, decided in the VOL. I. any executor or other party hav- Persons having Arches Court of Canterbury, May 8, 1841, H H lawful custody of bodies may permit them to un dergo anatomi cal examination in certain cases. Provision in case of per sons directing anatomical examinations after their death. The body not to be removed from the place without a certificate. Professors, surgeons, and others may receive bodies for anatomical examination. ing lawful possession of the body of any deceased person, and not being an undertaker or other party intrusted with the body for the purpose only of interment, to permit the body of such deceased person to undergo anatomical examination, unless, to the knowledge of such executor or other party, such person shall have expressed his desire, either in writing at any time during his life, or verbally in the presence of two or more witnesses during the illness whereof he died, that his body after death might not undergo such examination, or unless the surviving husband or wife, or any known relative of the deceased person, shall require the body to be interred without such examination." By sec. 8, "if any person, either in writing at any time during his life, or verbally in the presence of two or more witnesses during the illness whereof he died, shall direct that his body after death be examined anatomically, or shall nominate any party by this act authorized to examine bodies anatomically to make such examination, and if, before the burial of the body of such person, such direction or nomination shall be made known to the party having lawful possession of the dead body, then such last-mentioned party shall direct such examination to be made, and, in case of any such nomination as aforesaid, shall request and permit any party so authorized and nominated as aforesaid to make such examination, unless the deceased person's surviving husband or wife, or nearest known relative, or any one or more of such person's nearest known relatives, being of kin in the same degree, shall require the body to be interred without such examination." By sec. 9, no body is to be removed for anatomical examination from the place where such person died until after forty-eight hours from the death, nor unless a certificate, stating in what manner such person came by his death, shall have been given by the medical man who attended such person, or who examined the body after death. By sec. 10, "it shall be lawful for any member or fellow of any college of physicians or surgeons, or any graduate or licentiate in medicine, or any person lawfully qualified to practise medicine in any part of the United Kingdom, or any professor, teacher, or student of anatomy, medicine, or surgery, having a license from his Majesty's principal secretary of state or chief secretary as aforesaid, to receive or possess for anatomical examination, or to examine anatomically, the body of any person deceased, if permitted or directed so to do by a party who had at the time of giving such permission or direction lawful possession of the body, and who had power, in pursuance of the provisions of this act, to permit or cause the body to be so examined, and provided such certificate as aforesaid were delivered by such party together with the body." By sec. 11, such persons are to receive a certificate with the body, and transmit it and a return of the time the body was received, and other matters, to the inspector of the district. By sec. 12, notice is to be given to the Secretary of State of places where anatomy is intended to be practised. By sec. 13, bodies are to be removed in a decent coffin or shell, and after undergoing anatomical examination are to be decently interred in consecrated ground, or in some public burial ground in use for persons of that religious persuasion to which the person whose body was so removed belonged. scribed in this act not to be liable to By sec. 14, "no member or fellow of any college of physicians or Persons desurgeons, nor any graduate or licentiate in medicine, nor any person lawfully qualified to practise medicine in any part of the United Kingdom, nor any professor, teacher, or student of anatomy, medi- punishment cine, or surgery, having a licence from his Majesty's principal secre- for having in tary of state or chief secretary as aforesaid, shall be liable to any pro- human bodies. their possession secution, penalty, forfeiture, or punishment for receiving or having in his possession for anatomical examination, or for examining anatomically, any dead human body, according to the provisions of this act." By sec. 15, the act is not to prohibit any post mortem examination directed by competent authority. act. By sec. 18, "any person offending against the provisions of this Offences act in England or Ireland shall be deemed and taken to be guilty of against this a misdemeanor, and, being duly convicted thereof, shall be punished by imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or by a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, at the discretion of the Court before which he shall be tried; and any person offending against the provisions of this act in Scotland shall, upon being duly convicted of such offence, be punished by imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or by a fine not exceeding fifty pounds, at the discretion of the Court before which he shall be tried." words in this 48 G. 3, c. 75, provides for of dead bodies cast on shore from the sea. the interment By sec. 19, "the words, 'person and party' shall be respectively Interpretation deemed to include any number of persons, or any society, whether of certain by charter or otherwise; and that the meaning of the aforesaid act. words shall not be restricted although the same may be subsequently referred to in the singular number and masculine gender only." Provision has been made by statute for the suitable interment of such dead bodies as may be cast on shore from the sea. The 48 Geo. 3, c. 75, enacts, that the churchwardens and overseers of parishes in England, in which any dead body shall be found thrown in, or cast on shore from the sea, shall, upon notice of the body lying within their parishes, cause the same to be forthwith removed to some convenient place; and with all convenient speed to be decently interred in the churchyard or burial ground of such parishes: and if the body be thrown in, or cast on shore in any extra-parochial place, where there is no churchwarden or overseer, a similar duty is imposed upon the constable or headborough of such place. (e) It is further enacted, that every minister, parish-clerk, and sexton, of the respective parishes, shall perform their duties as is customary in other funerals, and admit of such dead body being interred, without any improper loss of time; receiving such sums as in cases of burials made at the expense of the parishes. (f) The statute provides also as to the expenses of such burials, and the raising of money to defray them; gives a reward of five shillings to the persons first giving notice to the parish officers, or to the constable or headborough of an extra-parochial place, of any dead body being cast on shore; and imposes a penalty of five pounds on persons finding dead bodies and not giving notice, and on parish officers neglecting to execute the act. (g) An appeal to the quarter (e) 48 Geo. 3, c. 75, s. 1. (f) Id. ibid. s. 2. (g) Ibid. ss. 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14. |