The law dealing with this method of disposal of human remains is much the same as the law governing burial, except for the important difference that cremation has an element of finality that makes certain safeguards necessary. With cre mated remains, virtually no evidence remains as to the cause of death. With such remains, exhumation would be futile, and the performance of autopsies impossible.
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In a recent murder case tried in the state of Florida, the defendant was convicted upon medical and scientific evidence obtained by minute ex amination of the exhumed, disinterred body of his wife, exam ined more than a year after her death. Had the wife's body been cremated, there would have been no evidence upon which to base the scientific testimony since exhumation of cremated remains would have been futile and the performance of an autopsy impossible. For this reason, the law erects safeguards around the cremation process, and in Florida no body may be cremated prior to the expiration of 48 hours after death. In Florida, several counties require the permission of the county medical examiner before a body may be cre mated, and similar statutes and regulations exist in other states. In New York, cremation without a burial permit is a misdemeanor and the offender is subject to fine and imprison ment for 60 days. In other jurisdictions, not only Health Department permits but written instructions from the family are required.
The organization and regulation of crematories and colum baria are governed by statutes in the various states, many of which include these matters in their cemetery laws. In other states the provisions are included in the public health law, the penal law (prohibiting resale of niches or sales of nichesunder the representation of reselling at a profit), the general city laws (at times being so crass as to refer to the item as "garbage disposal"), and the real property law. The statutes include provision for record keeping, cremation permits, the sale and transfer of ownership of niches or crypts in which urns are kept, the investment of a portion of the receipts from such sales in a trust fund for the perpetual care of the colum barium or other place for the cremated dead. Zoning laws apply as they do to cemeteries, as do laws concerning nuis ances. Generally statutes which refer to use of lands and property "for cemetery purposes" are interpreted judicially to include use for mausoleums, crematoria, and columbaria.
