Chap. 76.—An ACT to amend and reenact Sections 1731 as amended, 1732
and 1735 of the Code of Virginia, relating to delivery of bodies to State
Anatomical Board. {S 133]

Approved March 3, 1948

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That sections seventeen hundred thirty-one, as amended,
seventeen hundred thirty-two, and seventeen hundred thirty-five
of the Code of Virginia be amended and reenacted as follows:

Section 1731. Notification and delivery of bodies.—All officers,
agents and servants of every city and county in the State, and of
every almshouse, prison, morgue, hospital, jail, or other public insti-
tution including institutions under the control of the State Depart-
ment of Public Welfare in such city or county, and of every public
asylum or institution for the insane in the State, having charge
or control of any dead human body which is required to be buried
at the public expense, and every officer or other person having
charge or control of the body of any person upon whom the sen-
tence of death for crime has been executed under the law, shall
notify the said board, or such person or persons as may, from time
to time, be designated by the board or their duly authorized officer
or agent, whenever and as soon as any such body comes to his
or their possession, charge or control; and shall, without fee or
reward, if the said body is unclaimed and there be no objection by
the next of kin of the deceased deliver such body, and permit the
said board and its agents, and such physicians and surgeons as
may, from time to time, be designated by the board, and shall have
given the bond required by section seventeen hundred thirty-four,
to take and remove any such body, to be used for the advancement
of medical science; but no such notice need be given nor shall any
such body be delivered if any person claiming to be. and satisfying
the authorities in charge of said body that he is of kin or related by
marriage to the deceased, shall claim the body for burial and pay
the expenses thereof; nor shall the notice be given or the body
be delivered, if the deceased was a traveler who died suddenly.

Section 1732. Their distribution—The bodies received shall
be distributed by the board to and among the University, the
colleges and schools aforesaid, and any such physicians and sur-
geons as the board may designate. The University and the said
colleges and schools shall first be supplied with bodies needed for
lectures and demonstration. The remaining bodies shall be dis-
tributed equitably among the physicians and surgeons aforesaid,
but in such equitable distribution the physicians and surgeons as
aforesaid of the city or county where the death of the person takes
place shall have prior right to receive the body. The board, instead
of by themselves or through their agents receiving and delivering
said bodies, may, from time to time, either directly or by their
officers or agents, designate physicians and surgeons to reccive the
same, and the number each shall receive. For the purpose of the
distribution contemplated by this section, the body shall be held
subject to the order of the board or their authorized agents, in the
city or county where the death occurs, not less than twenty-four
hours.

Section 1735. Expenses.—Neither the Commonwealth, nor any
city or county, nor any officer, agent or servant thereof, shall be at
any expense by reason of the delivery or distribution of any such
bodies as are mentioned in section seventeen hundred thirty-one,
but all the expenses thereof, and of said board in relation thereto,
shall be paid by those receiving the said bodies, in such manner as
may be prescribed by the board, or agreed upon.