Premature Burial and How It May Be Prevented

by William Tebb; Edward Perry Vollum

FRANCE.

Interments must not take place, according to Article 77 of the Code Napoleon, before twenty-four hours of death, but in practice it is twenty-four hours after death-notification by the mort-verificateur. During epidemics, or when deaths occur from infectious or contagious diseases, the interments must invariably be made within twenty-four hours of death.

Article 77 of the Civil Code states that “No burial shall take place without an authorisation, on free paper and without expense, of the officer of the Civil State, who will not be empowered to deliver it, unless after having visited the deceased person, nor unless twenty-four hours after the decease, except in cases provided for by the regulations of the police.” It results from this that no corpse can be buried before a minimum delay of twenty-four hours shall have expired after the decease. The formal record of the decease must be made by the officer of the Civil State (the mayor), or, which is what takes place in most of the communes, by a medical man delegated by the mayor, and who takes the title of medical officer of the Civil State.

The Article 77 of the Civil Code is generally strictly observed in Paris and in other cities of France. The obligation to await the delay of twenty-four hours is intended to prevent too hasty burials. One considers, in fact, that that delay is generally necessary in order to be able to have certain proofs of death.

By Article 358 of the Penal Code, the burial of a deceased person without such authorisation is punishable by a maximum period of two months’ imprisonment, and a maximum fine of fifty francs, without prejudice to other criminal proceedings which may be applicable under the circumstances.

Exceptions, however, have been established in certain cases. For example, in times of epidemics, or of too rapid decomposition of the corpse in the usual case, there is urgent need, in fact, to bury the body of a person attacked with a contagious or epidemic malady, in order to suppress one of the causes of propagation of the epidemic, or of the contagion. In the second case, it is understood that one could not keep longer, without danger to the public health, a corpse in complete putrefaction. There is occasion also to observe that, in these circumstances, the end which the legislator has proposed to himself is equally obtained, since there cannot be any doubt as to the real death. However that may be, it is the mayor (officer of the Civil State) to whom it appertains, according to the terms of the Article 77 of the Civil Code, to give authority to bury; and if he gives that authorisation before the expiration of the delay of twenty-four hours, it is after having established by himself, or by the medical officer of the Civil State, the fact of its necessity, resulting from the circumstances of which we have just spoken.

It is to be remarked that the Article 77 fixes a minimum and not a maximum delay. It is always the mayor to whom it appertains to fix the day and the hour of the burial, and there may happen such and such a circumstance which necessitates a delay of the obsequies. The mayor need only assure himself in that case that no danger will result to the public health, which naturally is the case when the corpse is embalmed, or is placed in a leaden coffin.

Outside Paris and other large cities, and especially in the rural districts, much laxity prevails both as to verification of death and the time of burial, and cases of premature burial are not infrequent.

AUSTRIA.

The laws relative to funerals and burials are very strict—perhaps the most thorough in their requirements of any in Europe. They provide for a very careful inspection of the body by medical inspectors, quite independently of the attending physicians, in order to ascertain if the death be absolute. Minute and specific official directions guide them as to the method of examination and the signs of death to be looked for. And they further provide for carrying out any particular method, as to which the deceased may have given directions, in order to prevent a possible revival in the coffin. Should the surviving relatives desire it, a post-mortem operation may be made upon the body, in the presence of the medical inspectors and the police; in which case the heart is pierced through; and a full report of the operations must be forwarded to the civic magistrate. A fee of six florins is allowed for such an operation.