Chap. 355.—An ACT to revise the laws of Virginia with respect to post-mortem
examinations, and to that end to amend the Code of Virginia by adding thereto
a new chapter numbered 190-A and 15 new sections numbered 4806-a to
4806-0, both inclusive, creating a Commission on Post-Mortem Examinations
and prescribing its powers, duties and functions; to provide for the appointment
of a Chief Medical Examiner, and to prescribe his powers and duties with
respect to post-mortem examinations and investigations ; to provide for the dis-
position of certain dead bodies and of any property or estate of such deceased
persons; to amend Section 1727, as amended, of the Code of Virginia relating
to embalming dead bodies, and Sections 2817 and 2821 of said Code relating
to the service of process and summons by coroners and others and the appoint-
ment of criers for courts; and to repeal Sections 2815, 2818 and 2819 of the
Code of Virginia relating to coroners, Chapter 190 of the Code of Virginia
relating to coroners and coroner’s inquests, and Chapter 214 of the Acts of
Assembly of 1932 relating to disposition by coroners of money or property of
deceased persons. [S B

Approved March 28, 1946

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That the Code of Virginia be amended by adding thereto a new
chapter, numbered one hundred ninety-A, and fifteen new sections num-
bered forty-eight hundred six-a to forty-eight hundred six-o, as follows:

CHAPTER 190-A
Post-Mortem Examinations

Section 4806-a. Commission on Post-Mortem Examinations cre-
ated ; officers ; meetings ; quorum.—There is hereby created a commission
to be known as the Commission on Post-Mortem Examinations, which
commission shall consist of five ex-officio members as follows:

The Attorney General.

The State Health Commissioner.

The Superintendent of State Police.

The Dean of the Medical College of Virginia.

The Dean of the Medical School of the University of Virginia.

The commission shall elect one of its members as chairman and may
elect another as secretary, to serve at the pleasure of the commission.
Regular meetings shall be held at such times as may be determined by
the commission, and special meetings may be called at any time by
any two members. Three members shall constitute a quorum for the
transaction of any business coming before the commission. The commis-
sion shall have power to make and from time to time amend and repeal
by-laws and necessary rules and regulations not inconsistent with the law
for its own government and procedure and for the performance of its
duties under this chapter. The members of the commission shall serve
without compensation, but shall be paid actual expenses incurred by them
in the performance of their duties. The commission may designate an
officer or employee in the office of the Chief Medical Examiner to act as
secretary of the commission and as custodian of its files and records, but
no extra compensation shall be paid for such services.

Section 4806-b. Chief Medical Examiner, how appointed, qualifi-
cation, term; reports——The commission shall appoint a Chief Medical
Examiner for the State of Virginia to take office on the first day of
October, nineteen hundred forty-six, and to serve for three years. All
subsequent appointments shall be for terms of three years each, and such
appointees shall serve for such term and until their successors are ap-
pointed by the commission and have qualified. Vacancies shall be filled
by the commission for the unexpired terms. The Chief Medical Ex-
aminer shall be a skilled pathologist and eligible to be licensed as a Doc-
tor of Medicine. He shall be the executive officer of the commission, but
shall not be a member thereof. He shall receive such salary not less than
seventy-two hundred dollars per year as may be fixed by law, and shall
devote his entire time to his official duties. In the discretion of the com-
mission he may be vested with the authority of the commission when it is
not in session, but shall at all times be subject to such rules and regula-
tions as it may prescribe. It shall be the duty of the Chief Medical Ex-
aminer, whenever required so to do, to furnish to the Governor, and to
the General Assembly when in session, such information as may be de-
sired, and he shall make an annual report to the Governor of all expendi-
tures made by the commission, by himself and by all persons under his
supervision. |

Section 4806-c. Oath and bond.—The Chief Medical Examiner
shall take the oath prescribed by section thirty-four of the Constitution,
and enter into bond before the Clerk of the Circuit Court of the City of
Richmond in the penalty of five thousand dollars before entering upon
the duties of office. |

Section 4806-d. Central office and Laboratory; examiners may
teach legal medicine.—The commission shall establish and maintain in
the City of Richmond, under the supervision of the Chief Medical Ex-
aminer, a central office and a laboratory having adequate professional
and technical personnel and physical facilities for the conduct of post-
mortem examinations and of such pathological, bacteriological and tox-
icological investigations as may be necessary or proper. The commis-
sion shall provide the Chief Medical Examiner with such furniture, equip-
ment, records and supplies as may be required in the conduct of his of-
fice. The commission may, if it deems it advisable so to do, contract
with the Medical College of Virginia for the use of certain of its labora-
tories, its morgue and other technical facilities, and for space in one of its
buildings as a central office for the Chief Medical Examiner and his
staff. In the discretion of the commission the Chief Medical Examiner
and his assistants may be made available to the Medical College of Vir-
ginia and the Medical School of the University of Virginia for teaching
legal medicine and other subjects closely related to his duties.

' Section 4806-e. Assistants and employees.—The Chief Medical
Examiner, with the approval of the commission, may employ such cleri-
cal and other assistants as are necessary for the performance of the du-
ties of his office. The salaries of assistants and employees shall be fixed
by the commission. All persons appointed by the Chief Medical Examin-
er shall be responsible to him and may be removed by him for any rea-
sonable cause.

Section 4806-f. Certain salaries and expenses paid by State out of
funds for criminal charges.—The salaries of the Chief Medical Examiner,
and the technical and clerical personnel in the central office and labora-
tory, the expenses of maintaining the central office and laboratory, the
cost of pathological, bacteriological and toxicological services rendered
by others than the Chief Medical Examiner and his assistant, and the
traveling and other expenses of the members of the commission and the
personnel of the central office and laboratory, shall be paid by the State
of Virginia out of funds appropriated for the payment of criminal charges.

Section 4806-g. Commission may obtain additional services and
facilities—In order to provide proper facilities for investigating the
causes of deaths as authorized in this chapter the commission may employ
and pay qualified pathologists and toxicologists to make autopsies and
such other pathological and chemical studies and investigations as may
be deemed necessary or advisable by the Chief Medical Examiner, and
may arrange for the use of existing laboratory facilities for such purposes
wherever these are available. The commission may prepare a list of ap-
proved pathologists available for this work in the several sections of
the State, and may authorize the Chief Medical Examiner to call upon
these for services in case of need.

Section 4806-h. Coroners, appointment, term of office, vacancies.—
The commission shall, on or before the first day of October, nineteen
hundred forty-six, appoint one or more coroners for each county and
city in the State having no coroner in office at the time, to take office on
October first, nineteen hundred forty-six, and to hold office for terms of
two years and until their successors are appointed by the commission and
have qualified. All coroners in office on October first, nineteen hundred
forty-six, who have been appointed for four year terms ending in nineteen
hundred forty-eight, shall continue in office until October first, nineteen
hundred forty-eight. On or before October first, nineteen hundred
forty-eight, and each three years thereafter, the commission shall appoint
for each county and city in the State one or more coroners to take office
on October first after their appointment and to serve for terms of three
years and until their successors are appointed by the commission and
have qualified. All vacancies in the office of coroner shall be filled by
the commission for the unexpired terms, but temporary appointments may
be made by the Chief Medical Examiner to expire at the next meeting of
the commission. Each coroner shall be appointed from a list of two or
more licensed doctors of medicine submitted by the Component Medical
Society of the county or city in which the appointment is to be made, or
of the district in which the county or city is located. If no list of names
is submitted by the society the commission shall appoint a coroner or
coroners from the licensed medical doctors of such county or city. In
the event the coroner of any county or city, on account of illness or en-
forced absence or personal interest is unable to serve in any particular
case or for any period of time, he shall promptly notify the Chief Medi-
cal Examiner who shall then designate some other qualified doctor of
medicine in such county or city to serve in the place of the regular coroner
in making any examination or report required.

Section 4806-1. Coroners to be notified of certain deaths—Upon
the death of any person on or after October first, nineteen hundred forty-
six, from violence, or suddenly when in apparent health, or when unat-
tended by a physician, or in prison, or in any suspicious, unusual or un-
natural manner, the coroner of the county or city in which such death
occurs, shall be notified by the physician in attendance, by any law en-
forcement officer having knowledge of such death, by the undertaker, or
by any other person present. If the death occur in the penitentiary the
notice shall be given to the coroner of the City of Richmond.
Section 4806-j. Duties of coroners upon receipt of notice; reports ;
fees—Upon receipt of such notice the coroner shall take charge of the
dead body, make inquiries regarding the cause and manner of death, re-
duce his findings to writing, and promptly make a full report thereof to
the Chief Medical Examiner on forms prescribed for such purpose, re-
taining one copy of such report for his own use and delivering another
copy to the Commonwealth’s Attorney of his county or city. Full di-
rections as to the nature, character and extent of the investigation to be
made in such cases shall be furnished the coroner by the Chief Medical
Examiner, together with appropriate forms for the required reports and
instructions for their use. For each investigation under this chapter, in-
cluding the making of the required reports, the coroner shall receive a
fee of ten dollars, this to be paid by the county or city for which he is ap-
pointed.

Section 4806-k. When autopsies made; reports made and pre-
served.—If in the opinion of the coroner or of the Chief Medical Ex-
aminer it 1s advisable and in the public interest that an autopsy be made,
or if an autopsy is requested by the Commonwealth’s Attorney or by
the judge of the circuit or corporation court of the county or city where-
in such body is, such autopsy shall be made by the Chief Medical Ex-
aminer, or by such competent pathologist or toxicologist as may be desig-
nated by the Chief Medical Examiner for the purpose. A full record
and report of the facts developed by the autopsy and findings of the
person making such autopsy shall be promptly made and filed with the
coroner and in the office of the Chief Medical Examiner, and, if in the
opinion of the Chief Medical Examiner or the coroner it is proper, or if
requested by the Commonwealth’s Attorney of the county or city where
death occurred or of the county or city where any injury contributing
to or causing death was sustained, a copy of the report of the autopsy
shall be furnished such Commonwealth’s attorney.

In any case of sudden, violent or suspicious death, and the body
being buried without any inquest or autopsy being held or performed,
it shall be the duty of the coroner, upon being advised of such facts, to
notify the Commonwealth’s Attorney thereof, who shall communicate
the same to the judge of the circuit or corporation court, as the case may
be, and such judge may, by an order entered in the common law order
book of his court, require that the body be exhumed and an autopsy per-
formed thereon by the Chief Medical Examiner or by a pathologist or
toxicologist designated by him for the purpose, and the pertinent facts
disclosed by the autopsy shall be communicated to the judge who or-
dered it, for -such action thereon as he, or the court of which he is judge,
deems proper.

Section 4806-1. Facilities and services available to coroners.—
Under proper rules and regulations promulgated by the Chief Medical
Examiner the facilities of the central laboratory and the services of its
professional staff shall be made available to the coroners in their investiga-
ions under the provisions of this chapter.

Section 4806-m. Reports and records received as evidence.—Re-
yorts of investigations made by the Chief Medical Examiner or his
assistants or by coroners, and records and reports of autopsies made
under the authority of this chapter, shall be received as evidence in any
court or other proceeding, and copies of records, photographs, labora-
tory findings and records in the office of the Chief Medical Examiner or
any coroner, when duly attested by the Examiner or coroner in whose
office the same are, shall be received as evidence in any court or other
proceeding for any purpose for which the original could be received
without any proof of the official character of the person whose name is
signed thereto.

Section 4806-n. Disposition of dead body; how expenses paid.—
After the investigation has been completed, including an autopsy if one
is made, the dead body shall be delivered to the relatives or friends of the
deceased person for burial. If no person claims the body it shall be
turned over to the sheriff of the county or the sergeant or other like law
enforcement officer of the city where death occurred for proper disposi-
tion. The expenses incurred by such officer in the disposal of the dead
body shall be borne by the county or city where death occurred if the
deceased person had no known place of residence within the State, but
if the deceased person was a resident of Virginia at the time of death such
expenses. shall be paid by the county or city of residence. No such ex-
penses shall be paid until allowed by the court of such officer’s county or
city. If the deceased person has estate out of which burial expenses can
be paid, either in whole or in part, such estate shall be taken for such pur-
pose before any expense under this section is imposed upon the county or
city.

Section 4806-0. Disposition by sheriff or sergeant of property of
deceased.—If any sheriff or sergeant shall lawfully come into possession
of any money or other personal property of any such deceased person
whose death shall have occurred after October first, nineteen hundred
forty-six, and no person or persons entitled by law to such money or
property are known or can by reasonable diligence be ascertained, such
property shall within two years thereafter be sold by such sheriff or ser-
geant at public auction after posting notices in three or more public
places in his county or city for ten days, or in his discretion after adver-
tisement for ten days by one insertion in a newspaper published or hav-
ing general circulation in said county or city, and the proceeds thereof
together with any such money, after the payment of all necessary ex-
penses, shall be paid by such sheriff or sergeant into the State treasury to
the credit of the Literary Fund.

Be it further enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

2. That sections seventeen hundred and twenty-seven, as amend-
ed, twenty-eight hundred and seventeen and twenty-eight hundred and
twenty-one of the Code of Virginia, be amended as follows, the amend-
ments to be effective on and after the first day of October, nineteen hun-
dred and forty-six, and the said sections without such amendments to
remain in force until that date:

Section 1727. When coroner’s permission necessary before embalm-
ing; cremation certificates required—lIt shall be unlawful to embalm a
dead human body, when any fact within the knowledge, or brought to
the attention of, the embalmer is sufficient to arouse suspicion of crime in
connection with the cause of death of the deceased, until the permission
of the coroner has been first obtained. In any case where it is the duty
of the coroner to view the body and investigate the death of a deceased
person, it shall be unlawful to embalm the said body until the permission
of the coroner has first been obtained.

It shall be unlawful to cremate the body of a deceased person until
a coroner shall have certified in writing that he has viewed the body and
made personal inquiry into the cause and manner of death and is of the
opinion that no further examination or judicial inquiry concerning the
same is necessary. A fee of five dollars shall be paid the coroner for such
certificate by the person making application therefor, and a copy of such
certificate shall be promptly filed by the coroner in the office of the Chief
Medical Examiner at Richmond.

Any person violating any of the provisions of this section shall be
deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be
fined not less than twenty-five nor more than one hundred dollars.

Section 2817. When deputy may act in place of sheriff or sergeant.
—When for any cause it is improper for the sheriff of any county or the
sergeant of any city to serve any process or notice, or to summon a jury,
such process may be directed to any deputy of such sheriff or sergeant,
and such process or notice may be served and such jury summoned by
any such deputy.

Section 2821. Appointment of criers; their bonds——When there is
no person acting in a county or city as sheriff or deputy sheriff thereof,
or in a city as sergeant or deputy sergeant thereof, the circuit court of the
county or the circuit or any corporation court of the city may appoint a
crier for said court, who shall also be crier of any other court in the said
city served by such sheriff or sergeant, and such crier shall perform all
the duties pertaining to the office of sheriff or sergeant therein, except
such as relate to the collection of militia fines and officers’ fees. And
though persons be acting in any county as sheriff or deputy sheriff, or
in any city as sergeant or deputy sergeant, yet when it is unfit from any
cause for the sheriff or sergeant to serve any process or to summon a
jury, the court in which the case is pending may appoint some other per-
son to perform the same. It shall be the duty of such court to take from
any person so appointed, or from any person who has been appointed
and is still acting as crier, a bond, with condition for the faithful discharge
of his duties, in such penalty as it may deem sufficient; and the same
proceedings may be had thereon as upon a bond given by a sheriff.

Be it further enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

3. That sections twenty-eight hundred and fifteen, twenty-eight
hundred and eighteen, and twenty-eight hundred and nineteen of the
Code of Virginia, chapter one hundred and ninety of the said Code as
amended (including sections forty-eight hundred and six to forty-eight
hundred and eighteen, both inclusive), and chapter two hundred fourteen
of the Acts of Assembly of nineteen hundred thirty-two, approved March
twenty-third, nineteen hundred and thirty-two, are hereby repealed, this
repeal to be effective on and after the first day of October, nineteen hun-
dred and forty-six, and the said statutes to remain in force until that
date. -

Be it further enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

4. That all acts and parts of acts, both general and special, includ-
ing charters of cities and towns, inconsistent with the provisions of this
act, are hereby repealed to the extent of such inconsistency.

In order to carry out the provisions of this act there is hereby
appropriated to the Commission on Post-Mortem Examinations, out of
the general fund in the State treasury, the sum of twenty thousand dol-
lars or so much thereof as may be necessary, for each year of the bien-
nium beginning July one, nineteen hundred and forty-six. The money
hereby appropriated to the Commission shall be paid by the Treasurer
on warrants of the Comptroller issued on vouchers signed by the Chief
Medical Examiner, or by such person or persons as may be designated
by the Commission for the purpose.