Court Opinion

ID: 9604449
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 02:22:02.63845+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:02:22.542593
License: Public Domain

Townsend, J.,
dissenting. A fair statement of the facts shown by this record reveals that the defendant bought the tract of land on which the Neese burying ground was situated about 1925 without knowledge of its existence and without reservation of any kind by deed or plat of it as a burial ground; that when he bought the land the graves could not be seen because of trees and brush which had been cut down and accumulated over the area; that there were more than 2 or 3 graves but all except two were unmarked, that of these one had a monument which had been broken and the monument on the other had been placed there around 1930, after the defendant’s acquisition of the property, *303without his knowledge or consent; that, other than this, nothing was done toward cleaning up or tending the graves in the 30 years during which he owned the place; that the defendant had attempted to get the heirs to accept a deed back to the burial ground after his discovery of its existence, but no one was interested in taking it over; that the last interment was in the year 1907 and 1908; that the place was unfenced and an eyesore, grown up in briars and other vegetation, and was back about 30 feet from a public road.
Under such circumstances, following the decision of Mayes v. Simons, 189 Ga. 845 (8 S. E. 2d 73), it is clear that, as between the parties, heirs of the persons buried in this plot could not complain if the defendant removed the markers and cleared and plowed the land. The unique question (so far as our research shows) remains as to whether in such circumstances the removal of the marker in question constitutes a crime against the State. No one has been injured by the act except members of the family now living who, by their failure to reserve the land as a cemetery when it was sold at an administrator’s sale, placed the defendant in the situation he is now in. The moral, religious, or aesthetic reactions of the average person toward the desecration of a grave (even though it be old or abandoned) should have no part in this decision. This area in question was without doubt unsightly and had not been used as a burial place for over 50 years. Fee simple title had vested in the defendant owner. It will be noted that although the question of title was not decided in Mayes v. Simons, supra, there is there cited the case of Wooldridge v. Smith, 243 Mo. 190 (147 S. W. 1019, 40 L. R. A. (NS) 752) which holds that as there can be no dedication of property to private use, a proprietor of lands cannot, except by following certain statutory procedure, dedicate land as a family burial ground in the absence of a grant or reservation in the deed of sale. To the same effect see A. F. Hutchinson Land Co. v. Whitehead Bros. Co., 217 N.Y.S. 413 (127 Misc. 528); Morgan v. Collins School House, 160 Miss. 321 (133 So. 675); 14 C.J.S. 78, Cemeteries, § 19. Under Code § 26-8110, originally a part of the Act of 1842 and appearing in its present form since the Code of 1860, it is a misdemeanor to injure or destroy a private burying *304ground “which has been reserved in any private or public sale of the surrounding land,” from which it follows that, where the burial ground is private and no reservation of title has been made, it is not a crime against the State to destroy the burial ground itself, including the bodies buried therein. Code § 26-8109, which is the subject of this indictment, also appeared in the Code of 1860 but referred to public burial grounds only. It was amended by adding the words “or private burying grounds” in 1875. Since it is illogical to suppose that the legislature intended to fix a penalty for mere injury to a grave marker under circumstances where injury to the grave itself, and the remains of loved ones, might be done with impunity, it should be supposed, on a strict construction of the law, that the legislature meant to give the words “private burying ground” the same meaning they had in the subsequent Code section—that is, “private burying ground which has been reserved in any private or public sale of the surrounding land,” and as defined in Pritchett v. State, 51 Ga. App. 228 (179 S. E. 915). Epping v. City of Columbus, 117 Ga. 263 (3) (43 S. E. 803). No decided case suggests anything to the contrary. The plot in question in Mathews v. State, 33 Ga. App. 178 (125 S. E. 781), was reserved in the deed. The burying ground in Drew v. State, 18 Ga. App. 34 (88 S. E. 716), while referred to as a private burying ground, is shown by the record therein to have been a family plot in a public cemetery. No case in this or any other jurisdiction, so far as I can find, has held a defendant criminally liable under facts similar to those herein set forth. I think a new trial should be granted on the general grounds. Felton, C. J., joins in this dissent.