A BILL ΤΟ Amend the Laws concerning the Burial of the [Note. The Words printed in Italics are proposed to be inserted in Committee.] W HEREAS an Act was passed in the last Session of Parlia- Preamble. ment "to amend the Laws concerning the Burial of the 15 & 16 Vict. "Dead in the Metropolis," and it is expedient to make c. 85. better Provision for and in relation to Burials beyond the Limits of 5 the said Act: Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, as follows: I. In case it appear to Her Majesty in Council, upon the Repre- On Repre10 sentation of One of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, that sentation of Secretary of for the Protection of the Public Health the opening of any new State, Her Burial Ground in any City or Town, or within any other Limits, save Majesty in Council may with the previous Approval of One of such Secretaries of State, restrain the should be prohibited, or that Burials in any City or Town, or within opening of 15 any other Limits, or in any Burial Grounds or Places of Burial, should be wholly discontinued, or should be discontinued subject to 784. A new Burial Grounds, and order Dis continuance any of Burials in specified Places. Order not Burial not to take place after Order in Council any Exception or Qualification, it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, II. No such Order in Council as aforesaid shall be deemed to 25 extend to any Burial Ground of the People called Quakers, or of the Persons of the Jewish Persuasion, used solely for the Burial of the Bodies of such People and Persons respectively, unless the same be expressly mentioned in such Order; and nothing in this Act shall prevent the Burial in any such Burial Ground in which for the Time 30 being Interment is not required to be discontinued of the Bodies of such People and Persons respectively; and no such Order in Council as aforesaid shall be deemed to extend to any non-parochial Burial Ground being the Property of any private Person, unless the same be expressly mentioned in such Order. 35 III. It shall not be lawful, after the Time mentioned in any such Order in Council for the Discontinuance of Burials, to bury the Dead in any Church, Chapel, Churchyard, or Burial Place, or elsewhere, for Discon- within the Parts to which such Order extends, or in the Burial Grounds or Places of Burial (as the Case may be) in which Burials 40 have by any such Order been ordered to be discontinued, except as in this Act or in such Order excepted; and every Person who shall, after such Time as aforesaid, bury any Body, or in anywise act or assist in tinuance. the the Burial of any Body, contrary to this Enactment, shall be guilty of a Misdemeanor. certain IV. Provided always, That notwithstanding any such Order in Saving of Council, where by virtue of any Faculty legally granted, or by Usage Rights to 5 or otherwise, there is at the Time of the passing of this Act any bury in Right of Interment in or under any Church or Chapel affected by Vaults, &c. such Order, or in any Vault of any such Church or Chapel, or of any Churchyard or Burial Ground affected by such Order, and where any exclusive Right of Interment in any such Burial Ground has 10 been purchased or acquired before the passing of this Act, it shall be lawful for One of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State from Time to Time, on Application being made to him, and on being satisfied that the Exercise of such Right will not be injurious to Health, to grant Licence for the Exercise of such Right during such 15 Time and subject to such Conditions and Restrictions as such Secretary of State may think fit, but such Licence shall not prejudice or in anywise affect the Authority of the Ordinary, or of any other Person who, if this Act had not been passed, might have prohibited or controlled Interment under such Right, nor dispense with any Consent 20 which would have been required, nor otherwise give to such Right any greater Force or Effect than the same would have had if this Act had not been passed. under Act of Saving as to V. The Provisions of this Act shall not extend to authorize the Cemeteries Discontinuance of Burials, or to prevent the Burial of the Body of established 25 any Person, in any Cemetery established under the Authority of any Parliament Act of Parliament, or in any Burial Ground or Cemetery to be hereafter provided with the Approval of One of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, as herein mentioned. VI. Where by any such Order in Council as aforesaid it is ordered 30 that no new Burial Ground shall be opened in any City or Town, or within any Limits therein mentioned, without the previous Approval of One of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, no new Burial Ground or Cemetery (parochial or non-parochial) shall be provided and used in such City or Town, or within such Limits, 35 without such previous Approval. and new Buhereafter rial Grounds approved of by Secretary of State. New Burial Grounds not to be opened contrary to Order in Council. VII. All the Provisions contained in the said Act of the last Certain ProSession of Parliament, Chapter Eighty-five "to amend the Laws visions of Metropolitan "concerning the Burial of the Dead in the Metropolis," from Section Burial Act, Ten to Section Forty-two (both inclusive) of the said Act, and also in 15 & 16 Vict. 40 Sections Fifty, Fifty-one, and Fifty-two of the said Act, shall extend tended to and be applicable to and in respect of any Parish not in the Parishes, &c. Metropolis, Metropolis. 784. c. 85., ex not in the Act not to extend to the Metropolis. Act not to Scotland or Metropolis, and for the Purpose of providing a Burial Ground for any VIII. Nothing in this Act shall extend to any Parish in "the 10 Metropolis," as defined by the said Act of the last Session, or otherwise affect the Provisions of that Act. IX. This Act shall not extend to Scotland or Ireland. |