Second report of the Departmental Committee appointed to inquire into the law relating to coroners and coroners' inquests, and into the practice in coroners' courts.

  • Great Britain. Committee on Coroners.
Date:
1909
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Second report of the Departmental Committee appointed to inquire into the law relating to coroners and coroners' inquests, and into the practice in coroners' courts. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    25 May 1909.] - [ Continued. he would deal with it as he does with other cases that are reported to him ?—That would mean that you would make the certificate of notification a little more elastic ? 6529. No, I am suggesting the repeal of those Acts which enable a body to be buried without a legal inquiry or a certificate being given?—If you repeal those Acts you would make the registrar issue his certificate in certain cases where he cannot now. 6530, Or, in case of doubt, pass it on to the coroner ? —But if the registrar has to pass it on to the coroner, there is a little time wasted. 6531. From your knowledge and experience, which are no doubt great, do you see any hardship which would arise in country districts if persons had to com- municate with the registrar or with the police before burial takes place, supposing a repeal of the Acts which enable the incumbent and others to bury without the registrar being communicated with in the first in- stance ?—In a few cases there might be hardship, because of the length of time that a letter would take to arrive and another letter to come back. 6532. But the delay would be infinitesimal, would it not ?—I do not know. It would reduce these 891 cases, no doubt. 6533. They are very few now ?—Yes. 6534. (Chairman.) There are cases now, are there not, in which notice to the registrar is given after the burial has taken place ?—Yes, there is a flaw there, which I should like to mention: that notice may be given to the registrar at any time within seven days after the burial. I have a very strong opinion that it ought to be within seven hours. 6535. And it ought to be the duty of the responsible keeper of the burialplace to see that that notice is given immediately P—Yes, the duty must be on some one who is able to discharge it, of course; the clergyman is the responsible keeper of the churchyard; so that it must be put either into his power or into the power of some official of a cemetery to do it. 6536. The more perfect plan would be, of course, that there should be no burial until a certificate has been obtained either from the coroner or from the registrar ?—Yes, but there is one difficulty that arises there—and we often get it—and that is that the registrar’s certiicate has been lost. 6537. (Mr. Bramsdon.) That difficulty you get now ? —Yes, that is a difficulty that we get now. We are often asked, by telegraph sometimes, to authorise the issue of a duplicate certificate, and we strongly object to it, because the undertaker very often gets hold of the certificate and it may be convenient to him to mislay it, because that certificate may be useful as enabling him to get rid of another body. We always raise a difficulty about issuing a duplicate certificate, and we always insist that the burial must be reported to the registrar. 6538. What becomes of the certificate after burial ? —There is no statutory requirement as to that. It must be given to a certain person—in an ordinary case to the minister or the person who buries, and in the case of the Burial Laws Amendment Act, to the legal representative. That is unsatisfactory. 6539. Is not that again a case in which an amend- ment of the law is required to make some provision for what becomes of the certificate >—Yes. The Registrar- General has rather taken the law into his own hands there. He has marked on the certificate : ‘‘ This certifi- “ cate after burial must be handed to the authority of * the burial ground and retained by them.” That is not prescribed by Statute, but beyond doubt it ought to be prescribed. That form is being reprinted, and “should” is being substituted for “must.” We have had some correspondence on the subject with clergy- men and others. Sometimes a clergyman buries a body in a cemetery (perhaps one in a year), and he insists on keeping the certificate, because he is afraid that if he does not he may get prosecuted for some- thing or other; but the Registrar-General holds that the certificate should be handed over, if it is in a cemetery, to the authority of the cemetery, and that that authority should file all certificates relating to bodies buried in the cemetery. Mr. THomas Artuur Bramspon, M.P. | Mr, Wiuu1am H. Wiitcox, M.D. Mr. J. F. Moyuan (Secretary). 6540, (Chatrman.) Have you anything to add to your evidence on the last occasion, as to the custody of the certificate of death, and the present law with regard to burial ?—In the case of cremation, the certificate, under the Cremation Rules, remains with the cremation authority ; but when the cremated remains are subse- quently buried we have an arrangement, which was made by the Home Office, under which the cremation authority sends to the burial ground either a copy of the certificate or a statement that it has a certificate. 6541. By whom is the certificate kept now ?—It is kept by the cremation authority. 6542. Then, your suggestion would be that the pro- cedure which is followed in cases of cremation should be followed generally in cases of burial P—There is a little distinction in the case of cremation. The remains may be buried somewhere, and it is arranged that while the cremation authority keep the certificate, they send a statement that they have the certificate to any burial ground where the remains are to be interred. 6543. But is there any reason why the precautions taken in cases of cremation should not be applied to cases of burial ?—Certainly not. It is undesirable, I think, that the certificate of registry in cases of burial should be kept sometimes by one clergyman and some- times by another ; it should be produced to the clergy- man, but he should finally give it up to the authority of the burial ground, if he is not the authority himself,