Births and Deaths Registration Act 1874

Burials

17 Coroner's order and registrar's certificate for burial

A coroner, upon holding an inquest upon any body, may, if he thinks fit, by order under his hand authorise the body to be buried before registry of the death, and shall give such order to the relative of the deceased or other person who causes the body to be buried, or to the undertaker or other person having charge of the funeral; and, except upon holding an inquest, no order, warrant, or other document for the burial of any body shall be given by the coroner.

The registrar, upon registering any death or upon receiving a written requisition to attend at a house to register a death, or upon receiving su.ch written notice of the occurrence of a-death, accompanied by a medical certificate as is before provided by this Act, shall forthwith, or as soon after as he is required, give, without fee or reward, either to the person giving information concerning the death or sending the requisition or notice, or to the undertaker or other person having charge of the funeral of the deceased, a certificate under his hand that he has registered or received notice of the death, as the case may

Every such order of the coroner and certificate of the registrar shall be delivered to the person who buries or performs any funeral or religious service for the burial of the body of the deceased; and any person to whom such order or. certificate was given by the coroner or registrar who fails so to deliver or cause to be delivered the same shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding forty shillings.

The person who buries or performs any funeral or religious service for the burial of any dead body, as to which no order or certificate under this section is delivered to him, shall, within seven days after the burial, give notice thereof in writing to the registrar, and if he fail so to do shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds.

18 Burial of deceased children as still-born

A person shall not wilfully bury or procure to be buried the body of any deceased child as if it were still-born.

A person who has control over or ordinarily buries bodies in any burial ground shall not permit to be buried in such burial ground the body of any deceased child as if it were still-born, and shall not permit to be buried or bury in such burial ground any still-born child before there is delivered to him either,—

(a) A written certificate that such child was not born alive, signed by a registered medical practitioner who was in attendance at the birth or has examined the body of such child ; or

(b) A declaration signed by some person who would, if the child had been born alive, have been required by this Act to give information concerning the birth, to the effect that no registered medical practitioner was present at the birth, or that his certificate cannot be obtained, and that the child was not born alive; or

(c) If there has been an inquest, an order of the

Any person who acts in contravention of this section shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds.

19 Notice where coffin contains more than one body

Where there is in the coffin in which any deceased person is brought for burial the body of any other deceased person, or the body of any still-born child, the undertaker or other person who has charge of the funeral shall deliver to the person, who buries or performs any funeral or religious service for the burial of such body or bodies notice in writing signed by such undertaker or other person, and stating to the best of his knowledge and belief with respect to each such body the following particulars:

(a) If the body is the body of a deceased person, the name, sex, and place of abode of the said deceased person ;

(b) If the body has been found exposed, and the name and place of abode are unknown, the fact of the body having been so found and of the said particulars being unknown; and

(c) If the body is that of a deceased child without a name, or a still-born child, the name and place of abode of the father, or," if it is illegitimate, of the mother of such child.

Every person who fails to comply with this section shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding ten pounds.