Legal Rights of the Dead

Jesse James, Jr. v. Screen Gems Inc. stated that the right to privacy does not survive death. Jesse James Jr.`s widow filed a lawsuit against Screen Gems on behalf of her late husband, claiming that using her name in a documentary was an invasion of her privacy. The court ruled that her application was insufficient because it applied only to her husband. [4] 2. Habeas Corpses: The Rights of the SurvivorsThe deceased have fewer rights to control how and where they are buried. Often, the burial specifications of a will are not considered until long after the funeral.

The wishes of the survivors may outweigh those of the dead, not only in terms of burial, but also in terms of preparing the body. Even though the Uniform Anatomical Donation Act – which regulates organ donation – theoretically follows the wishes of the deceased, in practice the family has the final say. Even if the deceased person filled out a valid organ donor card, hospitals will not fight families who resist organ harvesting. The fear of litigation when only one party is alive to consult with their lawyer tends to outweigh the need for that kidney. The Washington Post called the conspiracy Alabama`s “Watergate.” 3 3 Myra MacPherson, Alabama`s Watergate, Wash. Post (April 3, 1977), www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/1977/04/03/alabamas-watergate/94450203-adc3-4ba1-8805-fec5ebd456c9/?utm_term=.93f0c4499a22 (filed with Columbia Law Review). On the afternoon of December 2, 1975, a Montgomery, Alabama, police officer shot and killed a thirty-two-year-old man named Bernard Whitehurst, who falsely suspected he had robbed a local store. 4 4 Id.

Close officers claimed the shooting was an act of self-defense and corroborated that account with a weapon they said was recovered from the scene. 5 5 Id. Close But in the months that followed, an investigation revealed that police had placed the gun near Whitehurst`s body. 6 6 See Foster Dickson, Closed Ranks: The Whitehurst Case in Post-Civil Rights Montgomery 47–53, 84–85 (2018) (with detailed evidence of cover-up); MacPherson, op. cit. Cit. Note 3 (ibid.). A police officer had in fact shot an unarmed black father in the back and, together with various local officials, had carried out a shameless cover-up. 7 7 See MacPherson, note 3 above. These facts, and the policies that made them possible, led to the resignation of the mayor, the chief of police and eight police officers. Id.

In light of these facts, Whitehurst`s family filed a federal lawsuit, alleging, among other things, that the cover-up violated Whitehurst`s constitutional rights. 8 8 Whitehurst v. Wright, 592 F.2d 834, 840 (5th Cir. 1979). Close However, this legal claim was met with a blockade. Whitehurst was dead when the conspiracy began. And the dead, a federal court has concluded, have no constitutional rights. 9 9 id. Close If there is no surviving spouse or if the surviving spouse has waived this right, the right to bury a body with the next of kin is in the order of his or her relationship with the deceased. In other words, if there is no surviving husband or wife, the right belongs to the next of kin in the order of their relationship to the deceased, usually in the following order: children of the right age, parents, siblings or more distant relatives.

This priority rule must be applied with reason. It is flexible and can be modified by the circumstances of the moment. Pettigrew v. Pettigrew, 207 Pa. 313 (Pa. 1904). Many jurisdictions have adopted regulations on the disposal of human bodies. While it may be perfectly legal to bury a deceased family member, the law may restrict where this activity is permitted and, in some cases, explicitly restrict burials to property controlled by certain licensed institutions. Moreover, in many places, not properly disposing of a corpse is a crime. In some places, it is also a crime not to report a death and not to report the disposition of the body.

See our article on cemetery law. A corpse is the physical remains of a human being exhaled before its complete decomposition. However, a morgue that does not deliver a donated body to medical students cannot be held liable, either in contract or tort. In order to hold a morgue liable under contract or tort, the following conditions must be met. They are: If the deceased has specified a specific place for burial, this place must be taken into account. However, in the absence of such a circumstance, the surviving spouse has the right to choose a burial place. In the event of a dispute between the surviving spouse and the next of kin, the spouse`s preference takes precedence over the place and time of burial and the nature of the disposition. If there is no legal separation, a woman separated from her husband has certain rights regarding her husband`s burial. However, if she fails to exercise these rights, her husband`s estate must bear the reasonable costs of her funeral and burial. In re Estate of Barner, 50 Misc.

2d 517 (N.Y. Sur. Ct. 1966) In addition to tortious liability, a morgue is held criminally liable if a body is transported without a transportation permit or funeral transit. While the primary and primary right to possession of the body and control of the funeral rests with the surviving spouse, a surviving spouse`s right to control the funeral depends on the particular circumstances of the particular case and may be revoked by consent or otherwise. Southern Life & Health Ins. Co. v. Morgan, 21 ala. app. 5 (ala.

ct. app. 1925). This means that a surviving spouse`s right to bodyguard for burial purposes is not an absolute right. For example, if a spouse does not immediately assert his or her rights to the corpse, the right to possession of the body for burial is abandoned in favour of the next of kin. Id, Southern Life. Families whose loved ones were found in Georgia describe the wound and horror of the fraudulent cremations (and the discovery that they have an urn full of burnt wood chips on their coats) as worse than a second death. While it is true that these survivors suffer nothing worse than a lack of closure, and even if the dead no longer care much, one measure of any civilized society is how they treat their dead.