Page:1887 Compiled Laws of Dakota Territory.pdf/1110

§§ 6550-6557

§ 6550. Except in the cases in which a right to dissect a dead body is expressly conferred by law, every dead body of a human being lying within this territory must be decently buried within a reasonable time after the death.

§ 6551. The last section does not affect the right to carry the dead body of a human being through this territory, or to remove from this territory the body of a person dying within it, for the purpose of burying the same in another state or territory.

§ 6552. The right to dissect the dead body of a human being exists in the following cases:

1. In the cases authorized by positive enactment of the legislative assembly of this territory.

2. Whenever the death occurs under circumstances in which a coroner is authorized by law to hold an inquest upon the body, and a coroner authorizes such dissection for the purposes of the inquest.

3. Whenever any husband or next of kin of a deceased person, being charged by law with the duty of burial, authorizes such dissection for the purpose of ascertaingascertaining [sic] the cause of death.

§ 6553. Every person who makes or procures to be made any dissection of the body of a human being, except by authority of law, or in pursuance of a permission given by the deceased, is guilty of a misdemeanor.

§ 6554. In all cases in which a dissection has been made, the provisions of this chapter requiring the burial of a dead body, and punishing interference with or injuries to a dead body, apply equally to the remains of the body dissected, as soon as the lawful purposes of such dissection have been accomplished.

§ 6555. All provisions of this chapter requiring the burial of a dead body, or punishing interference with or injuries to a dead body, apply equally to any dead limb or member of a human body, separated therefrom during life time.

§ 6556. The duty of burying the body of a deceased person devolves upon the persons hereinafter specified:

1. If the deceased were a married woman, the duty of burial devolves upon her husband.

2. If the deceased were not a married woman, but left any kindred, the duty of burial devolves upon the person or persons in the same degree nearest of kin to the deceased, being of adult age, and within this terrritoryterritory [sic], and possessed of sufficient means to defray the necessary expenses.

3. If the deceased left no husband, nor kindred, answering the foregoing description, the duty of burial devolves upon the coroner conducting an inquest upon the body of the deceased, if any such inquest is held; if none, then upon the persons charged with the support of the poor in the locality in which the death occurs.

4. In case the person upon whom the duty of burial is cast by the foregoing provisions omits to make such burial within a reasonable time, the duty devolves upon the person next specified; and if all omit to act, it devolves upon the tenant, or, if there is no tenant, upon the owner of the premises, or mas­ter, or, if there is no master, upon the owner of the vessel in which the death occurs or the body is found.

§ 6557. Every person upon whom the duty of making bur­ial of the remains of a deceased person is imposed by law, who omits to perform that duty within a reasonable time, is guilty of