against individual members of the congregation in a violent or censorious manner (a). It is also brawling for a private parishioner to publish a notice of vestry, or any other notice by words during church time (b). BULL, a brief or mandate of the Pope of Rome, so called from the seal of lead or gold affixed to it, upon which are engraved images of St. Paul and St. Peter, the Pope's name, and the year of his Pontificate. To procure, publish, or put in use a Papal bull, involves the penalties of præmunire (q. v.). BURIAL. A person may by will direct the place and method in which his corpse is to be disposed of, and, in default of such direction, the deceased is to be buried (or cremated) in a manner suitable to the estate he left behind him (c). It is the official duty of the executor or administrator to see to this (d); and it appears that even if the executor never receives assets to the amount of the funeral expenses, he is liable to pay, although he did not order the funeral (e). This, if a correct statement of the law, seems hardly satisfactory, and it is to be presumed that a person who is not informed that he is executor, or of the death, until after the funeral would not be liable. One who renounces without acting would certainly not be liable. It is, however, clear that if the executor orders the funeral, he is personally liable pay in any case (ƒ). to Upon general principles a man has only a right of burial in his own parish unless some Act of Parliament has given him a choice of burial in some other parish (g), and this right only (a) See Burder v. Hale (1849), 6 N. of C. 611. (b) Dawe v. Williams (1824), 2 Addams, 130. (c) 2 Bla. Com. 508. (d) See Williams v. Williams (1882), 20 Ch. D. 659; and CREMATION. (e) Per Jessel, M.R., in Sharp v. Lush (1879), 10 Ch. D. 472. (f) And see Williams on Executors, p. 1787. (g) Per Manisty, J., in Hughes v. Lloyd (1888), 22 Q. B. D. 162, but it is not illegal for a non-parishioner to be buried in a churchyard. See Re Sargent (1890), 15 P. D. 168, and authorities cited p. 169. extends to the churchyard or burial-ground. There is no right to burial in a church except by faculty or prescription, and a faculty for the purpose is now very rarely granted (h). The incumbent cannot give a general licence, but, it would seem, he may give leave to bury in the church in each particular instance (i). A parishioner cannot claim to be buried in a vault or any particular part of the churchyard (j), except by faculty or prescription. In large towns burials are usually wh in cemeteries. An executed criminal is to be buried in prison, but if there is no convenient space, the Secretary of State must be applied to (k). Suicide is now no bar to the usual burial; but it is (unless "while of unsound mind" is appended to the verdict) to the performance of the rites of a Church of England burial (1). Corpses found in or cast on shore from the sea (m), or any tidal or navigable waters (»), must be decently buried in the parish where they are found by the churchwardens and overseers. The expenses must not exceed the sum usually allowed for burying at the expense of the parish, and proper expenses are reimbursed to the churchwardens by the county treasurer on a justice's order (o). Notice of finding the body may be given to a police constable. No buried human remains may be taken up or removed without a licence from a Secretary of State, except where a body is removed from one consecrated place of burial to another under a faculty (penalty 107. (p)). By the Burial Laws Amendment Act, 1880, where a person is entitled (q) to be buried in any churchyard or graveyard, any person responsible for the burial may give a "Notice of Burial," in the form given below ("), to the incumbent or (h) Rugg v. Kingsmill, cited under VAULT. (i) Bryan v. Whistler (1828), 8 B. & C. 295. (j) Ex parte Blackmore (1830), 1 B. & Ad. 122; and see L. R. 3 C. P. 529. (k) 31 & 32 Vict. c. 24, s. 6. (1) See SUICIDE. (m) 48 Geo. 3, c. 75. (n) 49 & 50 Vict. c. 20. (0) See Queen v. Treasurer of County of Kent (1889), 22 Q. B. D. 603. (r) This notice must be in the following form:"I of being the relative [or friend, or legal representative, as the case may be, describing the relation, if a relative] having the charge of or being responsible for the burial of A. B., of D. who died at in the E clergyman that the burial will be without the Church service. Unless by arrangement the time of such burial must be between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., from 1st April to 1st October, and between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. from 1st October to 1st April, and must not be (in the case of a churchyard) on a Sunday, Good Friday, or Christmas Day, if the incumbent objects in writing for a reason. If the hour is inconvenient on account of some other service having been, previously to the receipt of such notice, appointed to take place in such churchyard or graveyard, or the church or chapel connected therewith, or by reason of any valid byelaws limiting the times for burials, the person receiving the notice may fix the hour by notice in writing (s). The Act does not prevent the same fees being payable, and the same regulations being made as if the burial had been with the Church Service (t). The burial may be either without any religious service, or with such religious service, if professedly Christian and orderly, as the person responsible for the burial may think fit. All persons are to have free access to the churchyard or graveyard (u), but any who are disorderly, or deliver any address not being part of such religious service, or who endeavour to bring into contempt or obloquy the Christian religion, or the members or ministers of any Christian Church or denomination, or any other person, are guilty of a misdemeanour (r); and all powers for the preservation of order may be exercised as if the burial were according to the rites of the Church of England (y). A certificate of the burial must be transmitted on the day of parish of do hereby give you notice that it is intended by me that the body of the said A. B. shall be buried within the [here describe the churchyard or graveyard in which the body is to be buried], on the day of at the hour of without the performance in the manner prescribed by law of the service for the burial of the dead according to the rites of the Church of England, and I give this notice pursuant to the Burial Laws Amendment Act, 1880. To the Rector [or as the case may be] of It is important that this form should be carefully filled up, as it has been held that the omission of the address renders the notice bad. Hoare v. Ram (1881), 45 J. P. 729. (s) 43 & 44 Vict. c. 41, ss. 3 and 4. (x) Sect. 7. (t) Sect. 5. (y) Sect. 8. (u) Sect. 5. to the rector or registrar, who must enter the burial in the register (*). The service for the burial of the dead in the Prayer Book may be used for persons buried in unconsecrated ground (a), for a person baptized by a layman, or who died in a state of intoxication (b), or for a dissenter (c). The general rule is that the parish minister must bury all persons who are brought to the church (c), the only exceptions being:-any that die unbaptized or excommunicate (i.e., from the Christian Church generally (c), not merely from the Church of England), or have laid violent hands upon themselves (d) while of sound mind (e), or where the burial is required to be in a new and unusual mode (f). The incumbent is entitled in any case to a "convenient warning" (g); but if he then improperly refuses or delays to bury, he is punishable by the ecclesiastical law, or a mandamus to compel him may be obtained (ƒ). In any case where the burial service may not be used, and in any other case at the request of the person having charge of the burial, any clergyman of the Church of England authorized to perform the burial service may use such service consisting of prayers from the Prayer Book and portions of Holy Scripture as may be approved by the ordinary (h). 66 The burial service should, if possible, be performed by a 'priest "(); a person not duly authorized by the ecclesiastical law (ie., presumably a layman) cannot read the Church service in consecrated ground unless the proper notice has been given under the Burial Laws Amendment Act (k), in which case, as before mentioned, any "Christian service" may be used. An interment must in all cases be decent, and generally coffins are used. These may be of wood, lead, or iron; but if of the more durable material, it would seem that extra fees may be demanded (1), for they are likely to bring additional charges on populous parishes. Funerals and persons attending them are exempt from tolls, q. v. (m). Though the right to burial is a civil right, still a burial is an "ecclesiastical purpose" if not in the abstract, at any rate under 19 & 20 Vict. c. 104, s. 14. So when a district which has a burial ground becomes a distinct parish for ecclesiastical purposes, the inhabitants of such new parish cease to have any right of burial in the old parish (n). Until the new parish has a burial ground, the right to burial in the old parish continues (o). By the Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1874, the person who buries or performs any burial service without a coroner's order or registrar's certificate being delivered to him, must, within seven days after the burial, give notice in writing to the registrar; penalty for neglect 107. (p). This does not apply to a burial under the Burial Laws Amendment Act, 1880 (2). A deceased child must not be buried as if it were still born, and no child may be buried as still born without a proper medical certificate, or if no medical man was present, from the father, mother, occupier of house where the child was born, or a person present at the birth or having charge of the child, or if there has been an inquest the coroner's order (penalty 107.) (»). If the coffin contains more than one body, notice must be given to the person performing the burial service (penalty 107.) (s). Fees. In early times all fees to the clergy for burials were forbidden as simoniacal, but now they are very generally payable either by custom or statute. The incumbent is not en (1) Gilbert v. Buzzard (1820), 3 Phill. 335, 359. And see Cripps. (m) 20 & 21 Vict. c. 81, s. 14. (n) See PARISH; and Hughes v. Lloyd (1888), 22 Q. B. D. 157. (0) 7 & 8 Geo. 4, c. 72, s. 2. (p) 37 & 38 Vict. c. 88, s. 17. (2) 43 & 44 Vict. c. 41, s. 11; 44 & 45 Vict. c. 2. (r) 37 & 38 Vict. c. 88, s. 18. |