Chap. 48.—An ACT to promote Medicial Science, and to protect
Graves and Cemeteries from desecration within the commonweulth of
Virginia.

In force January 28, 1884.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
the professors of anatomy, the professors of surgery, and the
demonstrators of anatomy, of the schools and colleges of this
commonwealth, which are now or may hereafter become
authorized by law, to teach medical science, and issue diplo-
mas. shall be, and are hereby constituted a board for the dis-
tribution and delivery of dead human bodies, hereinafter des-
cribed, to and among such persons as, under the provisions of
this act, are entitled thereto. The professor of anatomy in
the Medical College of Virginia, at Richmond, shall call a
meeting of said board, for organization, at a time and place
to be fixed by him, within thirty days after the passage of
this act. The said board shall have full power to establish
rules and regulations tor its government, and to appoint and
remove proper officers, and shall keep full and complete min-
utes of the transactions; and records shall also be kept under
its direction, of all bodies received and distributed, which
minutes and records shall be open at all times to the inspec-
tion of each member of said board, and of any common-
wealth’s attorney of any corporation within this state.

2. All public officers, agents, servants, and all officers,
agents, and servants, of any and every city, and other muni-
cipality, and of any and every almshouse, prison, morgue,
hospital, jail, or other public institution in such cities and
other municipalities having charge or control over dead
human bodies, required to be buried at the public expense,
are hereby required to notify the said board of distribution,
or such person or persons as may, from time to time, be
designated by said board, or its duty authorized officer or
agent, whenever any such body or bodies come to his or their
possession, charge or control; and shall, without fee or re-
ward, deliver such body or bodies, and permit and suffer the
said board and its agents, and the physicians and surgeons,
from time to time, designated by them, who may comply
with the provisions of this act, to take and remove all such
bodies, to be used within this state. for the advancement of
medical science; but no such notice need be given, nor shall
any such body be delivered, except in the case of criminars.
If any person claiming to be, and satistying the authorities
in charge of said body, that he or she is of kindred, or is
related by marriage to the deceased, shall claim the said body
for burial, it shall ‘be buried and the expense of said burial shall
be a charge upon the state, city, county, or district as now
provided by law; nor shall the notice be given or body de-
livered, if such deceased person was a traveler who died sud-
denly, in which case the said body shall be buried.

3. The said board, or their duly authorized agent, who
shall be commissioned by the board, may take and receive
such bodies so delivered, as aforesaid, and shall, upon receiv-
ing them, distribute and deliver them to and among the
schools, colleges, physicians and surgeons aforesaid in man-
ner following : Those bodies needed for lectures and demon-
strations by the said schools and colleges, incorporated and
unincorporated, shall first be supplied. The remaining bodies
shall then be distributed, proportionately and equitably, pre-
ference being given to said schools and colleges: provided,
however, that after the said bodies shall have been sufficiently
used for the purposes of instruction, they shall be decently
interred by said schools, colleges, phy sicians and surgeons re-
ceiving them. Instead of recciving and delivering said bodies
themselves, or through their agents or servents, the board of
distribution may, from time to time, either directly or by
their authorized officer or agent, designate physicians and
surgeons who shall receive them, and the number which cach
shall receive: provided always, however, that schools and
colleges, incorporated and unincorporated, and physicians or
surgeons of the city where the death of the person or such
persons described takes place, shall be preferred to all others :
and provided, also, that for this purpose such dead body shall
be held subject to their order in the city where the death
occurs for a period not less than twenty-four hours.

4. The said board may employ a carrier or carriers for the
conveyance of said bodies, which shall be well enclosed in a
desirable encasement, and carefully deposited, free from pub-
lic observation. Said carrier shall obtain receipt by name, or
if the person be unknown, by a description, for each body
delivered by him, and shall deposit such receipt with the sec-
retary of the said board.

5. No school, college, physician or surgeon shall be allowed
or permitted to receive any such body or bodies until a bond
shall have been given to the commonwealth by such physi-
cian or surgeon, or by or in behalf of such school or college,
to be approves by the judge, clerk, or commonwealth’s attor-
ney of the city or corporation court in and for the city or
corpuration in which such physician or surgeon shall reside,
or in which such sclfool or college may be situated, and to be
filed in the office of the clerk of said court, which bond shall
be in the penal sum of one thousand dollars, conditioned that
all such bodies which the said physician or surgeon, or the
said school or college shall receive thereafter, shall be used
only for the promotion of medical science within this state ;
and whosoever shall sell or buy such body or bodies, or in
any way traffic inthe same, or shall transmit or convey, or
cause to procure, to be transmitted or conveyed, said body or
hodies to any place outside of this state, shall be deemed
yuilty of a misdemeanor, and shall, on conviction, be liable to
a tine not exceeding two hundred dollars, or be imprisoned
for a time not exceeding one year.

6. Neither the commonwealth nor any city or munici-
pality, nor any officer, agent or servant thereof, shall be at
any expense by reason of the delivery or distribution of any
such body, but all the expenses thereof, and of said board of
distribution, shall be paid by those receiving the bodies in
such manner as may be specified by said board of distribu-
tion, or otherwise agreed upon.

7. That any person having duties enjoined upon him by
the provisions of this act, who shall neglect, refuse or omit to
perform the same as hereby required, shall, on conviction
thereof, be liable to a fine of not less than one hundred nor
more than five hundred dollars for each offence.

8. If any person unlawfully disinter or displace a dead
human body, or any part ot a dead human body which shall
have been deposited in any vault or other burial place, he
shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and shall, on conviction,
be confined in the penitentiary for not less than five nor more
than ten years.

9. That all acts or parts of acts inconsistent with this act
be and the same are hereby repealed.

10. Provided, that this act shall only be in force in the
cities of the commonwealth having not less than ten thou-
sand inhabitants.

11. This act shall be in force from its passage.