Cremation - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition cremation

Definition :

Cremation, the disposal of a dead body by burning instead of by burial. This is not illegal, unless it be done so as to cause a nuisance, or with the intention of preventing a coroner's inquest, Rg. V. Price, (1884) 12 QBD 247. But it is the duty of executors to bury the body of their testator, although the will may direct some other person to cause it to be burnt, Williams v. Williams, (1882) 20 Ch D 659. If burial in consecrated ground and cremation are both desired, cremation should precede and not follow burial, and the Burial Service maybe read in connection with the burial of the ashes; see Re Dixon, 1892 p. 394, where an applicationto exhume, after 18 years' burial, for the purpose of cremation, was refused. The (English) Cremation Act, 1902 (3 Edw. 7, c. 8), empowers burial authorities (see BURIAL) to establish crematoria on plans approved by the Minister of Health and certified to be in accordance therewith by the Secretary of State, but no crematorium may be nearer than 200 yards to any dwelling house without the written consent of the owner. The incumbent of the parish where the deceased died is not bound to perform a funeral service. See Chitty's Statutes, and the elaborte official regulations required by the 7th s. of the Act, ibid. See Cremation Rgulations, 28th October, 1930 (S. R. & O., 1930, No. 1016).

A coroner is required to give a special certificate to permit cremation of any body on which he has held an inquest.