Cemetery

A place or ground set apart for the burial of the dead. 121 111. 210.

A place set apart for the burial of the dead. Cemeteries are regulated Ln England and many of the United States by statute. After ground has once been devoted to this object it can be applied to secular purposes only with the sanction of the legislature; L. R. 4 Q. B. 407; Sohier v. Church, 109 Mass. 1. An abandoned cemetery, from which all the bodies had not been removed, cannot be sold; Ritter v. Couch (W. Va.) 76 S. E. 428, 42 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1216. A cemetery association holds the fee of lands purchased for the purposes of the association. The persons to whom lots are conveyed for burial purposes take only an easement — the rigbt to use their lots for such purposes; Buffalo City Cemetery v. Buffalo, 46 N. Y. 503; People v. Trustees of St. Patrick's Cathedral, 21 Hun (N. Y.) 184; Washb. Easem. 604; Sohier v. Church, 109 Mass. 21; Price v. Church, 4 Ohio 515; it resembles the grant of a pew in a church; Jones v. Towne, 58 N. H. 462, 42 Am. Rep. 602; Sohier v. Church, 109 Mass. 1. It is a mere (exclusive) usufructuary right, subject to the conditions of the charter and by-laws of the cemetery company; Roanoke Cemetery Co. v. Goodwin, 101 Va. 605, 44 S. E. 769. It is in the na- 596; capable of being created by deed only; 8 B. & C. 288; but it can be created by prescription; Hook v. Joyce, 94 Ky. 450, 22 S. W. 651, 21 L. R. A. 96. It bas been beld to be a license; Buffalo City Cemetery v. Buffalo, 46 N. Y. 503; Page v. Sywonds, 63 N. H. 17, 56 Am. Rep. 481. A statute directing a removal of bodies, without providing compensation to tbe lot owners, is constitutional; WYnl. v. Church of Williamsburgh, 80 Hon 266, 30 N. Y. Supp. 157. In the absence of a deed, or certificate equivalent thereto, they are mere licensees; 8 B. & C. 288. Non-residence does not divest an heir at law of an easement in a burial lot while the gravestones of his parents remain; Hook v. Joyce, 94 Ky. 450, 22 S. W. 651, 21 L. R. A. 96. Their rights cease when the cemetery is vacated, as such, by authority of law; Partridge v. Church, 39 Md. 631; Craig v. Church, 88 Pa. 42, 32 Am. Rep. 417; and the owner of a lot in which no interments have been made, loses all use of it by the passage of a law making interments therein unlawful; Kincaid's Appeal, 66 Pa. 411, 5 Am. Rep. 377. An act declaring it unlawful to open a public street through a cemetery does not prevent one who has laid out a cemetery from dedicating a strip along the edge of it which he still owns for a public alley, it not abridging the rights of parties to whom lots had been sold; Du Bois Cemetery Co. v. Griffin, 165 Pa. 81, 30 Atl. 840. A cemetery association has the right to limit all interments to the family of the lot owner and their relatives; Farelly v. Cemetery Ass'n, 44 La. Ann. 28, 10 South. 386. The property of cemetery associations is usually exempt from taxation; Woodlawn Cemetery v. Inhabitants of Everett, 118 Mass. 354; People v. Cemetery Co., 86 111. 336, 29 Am. Rep. 32; People v. Pratt, 129 N. Y. 68, 29 N. E. 7; and this exemption has been held to include immunity from claims for municipal improvements; Olive Cemetery Co. v. City of Philadelphia, 37 Leg. Int. (Pa.) 264. See 1 Washb. R. P. 9; Washb. Easem. 515; Cooley, Tax. 203; but it is held that it would not be relieved from paying an assessment for street improvements; Lima v. Cemetery Ass'n, 42 Ohio St. 128, 51 Am. Rep. S09; Alexander v. City Council, 5 Gill (Md.) 396, 46 Am. Dec. 630; Boston Seamen's Friend Society v. Boston, 116 Mass. 181, 17 Am. Rep. 153; President, etc., of City of Paterson v. Society, 24 N. J. L. 3S5; People v. Cemetery Co., SO 111. 33G. 29 Am. Rep. 32; Sheehan v. Hospital, 50 Mo. 155, 11 Am. Rep. 412. A lot owner may maintain an action of trespass against one who wrongfully trespasses upon it; Smith v. Thompson. 55 Md. 5, 39 Am. Rep. 409; Gowen v. Bessey, 94 Me. 114, 46 Atl. 792; it has been held that he 70 X. W. 1121, 70 Am. St. Rep. 903; B mer Land & Improvement Co. v. Jenkins, 111 Ala. 135, 18 South. 565, 56 Am. St. Rej lie may enjoin the cemett; ition from preventing a member of bis family from being buried in the family lot; Wright v. Cemetery Corp., 112 Ga. 884, 38 S. E. 94, 52 L. R. A. 521; or from removing the ashes of the dead; Beatty v. Kurtz. 2 Pet (l 7 L. Ed. 521; or may obtain an ord compel the association to keep the grounds in good order and maintain the whole as a cemetery; Clark v. Cemetery Co., GO N. J. Eq. 636. 61 Atl. 26L An injunction may issue against the lot owner and the cemt -i iation to prevent the burial of a dog; Hertle v. Riddell, 127 Ky. 623, 106 S. W. 282, 15 L. 11. A. (X. S.i 796, 128 Am. St. Rep. 364. A purchaser of a lot must look to the charter and by-laws of the corporation, they being part of his contract of purchase. When the by-laws provide that "this cemetery is set apart for the burial of the white race," a negro may not be buried therein; Hertle v. Riddell, 127 Ky. 623, 106 S. W. 282, 15 L. R. A. (N. S.) 796, 128 Am. St Rep. 364; People v. Cemetery Co., 258 111. 36, 101 N. E. 219. One who purchased a lot in a distinctively Roman Catholic cemetery takes it with the tacit understanding that he will not be allowed to use it for the burial of one not a member of that church; People v. Trustees of St Patrick's Cathedral, 21 Hun (X. Y.i 184; Dwenger v. Geary, 113 Ind. 106, 1 1 X. E. 903. But, where a lot was sold to a colored man for burial purposes, tbe corporation was not allowed afterwards to change its by-laws so as to exclude him and his family from the right of burial therein; Mt Moriah Cemetery Ass'n v. Com., 81 Pa. 235, 22 Am. Rep. 743. Where a testator devised to trustees a lot of ground for burial of the dead of his family, without any fund for its care, and the lot fell into disuse, the Orphans' Court may decree its sale and apply the proceeds in part to buying a lot in another cemetery, removing the dead, marking the graves or caring for the lot in the future and may divide the remainder among the heirs of the testator, but with no part for an elaborate monument to the testator; Young's Estate, 224 Pa. 570, 73 Atl. 941. The residue la distributal real estate; Young's Estate, 20 Pa. D. R.686. See Dead Body; Charitable I'm s (as to a legacy to keep a lot in order). CENE6ILD. In Saxon Law. A pecuniar; mulct or One paid to the relations of a murdered person by the murderer or his relations. Spelman, Gloss.