River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1914-04-23
NO z.
POPULAR TALKS ON LAW
CEMETERIES
BY Walter K. Towers, A. D., j. o., Of the
Michigan Bar.

Not only do the courts apply the
laws for IA protection while we
are living, but they often find it
after we are dead. The law recog-
nizes the sacredness of a grave, and
within certain limits, will exercise
its authority to protect it.
The control Of cemeteries is a
matter within the province of the
state legislature. The state law
makers may, and frequently do, en-
act laws regulating places of burial,
providing for the establishment of
new ones, or the abandonment of
old ones.
AT the present time il is common
custom for a cemetery association
to secure title TO a suitable tract of
ground. What ground may be used
for this purpose is within the con
troll of the state or municipality.
individuals c the rights of
bur ial in particular lots from the
company. They do not take title to
the lot, but only purchase the right
TO use, and the right to such care
by the association as is specified in
the contract. A written contract or
deed is not necessary, an oral agree
ment being sufficient in law to ON
fer rights in a cemetery lot.
Public cemeteries may become
established by general and long
continued usage, in which cases it
is held that the land has been dedi-
Gated to use as a cemetery by the
original owners. Thus it has been
held a good dedication in law where
a landowner stated to people living
in the vicinity that the land might
be used as a place of burial and al
lowed it to be fenced, improved and
exclusively used as a cemetery for a
long pSTIOl Oh time.
Unless one can be very sure that
a neighDorhood burial place, which
has not been secured by purchase
by a corporation or association, has
been legally dedicated, he cannot
be assured that graves in it will be
undisturbed. In a recent case, the
Missouri court very reluctantly de-
clared it had no right TO protect a
burial ground which had never been
dedicated to that purpose by the
owners of the land. Later owners
insisted on tearing down the old
fence and allowing cattle to pasture
in the old burial ground. Descend
ants of those buried in the ground
objected and sought to secure by
force of law the permission to fence
the graves of their ancestors. The
court informed them that their only
rights were to remove the bodies.
But once a cemetery has been
properly established, the courts are
inclined to guard it from interfer-
ence except in cases of the most OBJ
vious necessity. The growth of a
city may sometimes make it neces-
sary to move a buryipg ground, or
long continued neglect may result
in its eventual abandonment. Many
state laws have been passed to pro-
tect cemeteries from spoilation.
The law is strongly inclined to
protect the individualsgrave as we'll
as the cemetery as a whole. This
is shown by the statement of the
court in a recent case where an ef-
fort was being made by the accused
in a murder trial to have the dead
body of the victim exhumed for ex-
animation The court said, in part:
Can it (the court), without the
consent of the kindred of the dead,
invade the sacred precincts of the
cemetery, and tear open again and
lacerate afresh the hearts of those
that loved him, and to whom his
memory is sacred and dear? With
what reverence do we all regard the
graves of our dead, and each re-
turning spring cover them with
beautiful flowers. There is an in
stinct planted by nature in the hu-
man breast to feel a strong aversion
almost horror-at the dissertation
of the grave. The maxim, 'Requi-
escat in pace LET him rest in
peace), speaks this feeling. The
great dramatist impressively tells
this tender emotion IN the n~raverfnl