A BIL L For the Improvement of Health in Towns, by removing the [Note.-The Words printed in Italics are proposed to be inserted in the Committee.] 5 HEREAS the practice of Interment under Churches, Preamble. Chapels and other places of Religious Worship, and within the precincts of large Towns in England, is injurious to Health, and frequently offensive to public decency, and it is expedient that the same should be prevented; May it therefore please Your MAJESTY, 1. cember 1843, no Interment to take place Church, &c. in any That it may be Enacted, And be it Enacted, by The QUEEN's most Excellent MAJESTY, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Par10 liament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, THAT from After 31 Deand after the Thirty-first day of December One thousand eight hundred and Forty-three, no burial or interment of any dead body shall take place in England, in or under any Church, Chapel or other place of Religious Worship, nor in or under any house or building inhabited 15 by any person whosoever (except as hereinafter specially provided to the contrary); and the executor or administrator to the estate and effects of every such deceased person, and every person who shall aid or assist in the burial of the same, contrary to this provision, shall forfeit the sum of Five Pounds. 20 And be it Enacted, That from and after the Thirty-first day of December One thousand eight hundred and Forty-four, no burial or interment of any dead body (except as hereinafter specially provided to the contrary) shall take place in or within the distance of Two Miles 70. A from 3. Act not to restrain Burial in certain Cemeteries or specified Churchyards, &c. 4. Act not to extend to prevent Inter ments in Family Vaults or in certain Churchyards, &c., for Twenty Years. 5. Act not to extend in certain cases to bury in 5 from the metes and bounds of the cities of London or Westminster, or Provided always, and be it Enacted, That nothing in this Act contained shall extend to restrain the burial of any dead body in any Cemetery authorized to be established by any Act passed specially 15 for that purpose, or in any Churchyard, Cemetery or Burial-ground specified or referred to in the Schedule (A.) to this Act annexed. Provided also, and be it Enacted, That nothing in this Act contained shall extend to restrain the burial of any dead body in any existing family vault which shall be the property of, or which shall 20 have been dedicated or set apart as the family vault of the family of which such dead body shall have been a member, nor to restrain for the period of Twenty Years from the passing of this Act the burial or interment of any dead body in or under the limits of any existing Churchyard, Cemetery or receptacle for the dead mentioned or 25 specified in the Schedule (B.) to this Act annexed. Provided always, and be it Enacted, That nothing in this Act contained shall extend to prevent, with the consent of One of Her MaWestminster jesty's Principal Secretaries of State, the interment of the dead body of any eminent public person in any vault or grave under Westminster 30 Abbey or Saint Paul's Cathedral. Abbey or Saint Paul's 6. After 1850, existing Burialgrounds may be planted with Shrubs, &c. And be it Enacted, That on and after the First day of January One thousand eight hundred and Fifty, it shall be lawful for the Churchwardens of any parish, township or place, the Burial-ground of which shall not have been used for the interment of any dead body for 35 the space of Five Years (except in family vaults), to cause such Burial-ground to be planted with shrubs or trees, as a Vestry of such parish, township or place shall determine; nevertheless no excavation or disturbance of the soil below the depth of Two Feet from the surface of the earth shall take place under any pretence whatever, 40 until Twenty Years after the expiration of the last interment of a dead body in the same. And 5 And be it Enacted, That the Rector, Vicar or Incumbent, and the Churchwardens of every parish, township or place in every such city, town or borough respectively, together with Two of the inhabitants of such parish, township or place, rated to the relief of the poor within the same to the amount of Thirty Pounds per annum, to be elected annually by the inhabitants of such parish, township or place in vestry assembled, shall form a Committee for every such parish, township or place; or it shall be lawful for the Rectors, Vicars or Incumbents and Churchwardens of any Two or more parishes, townships or places 10 therein, to form such parishes, townships or places into a Union for the purposes of this Act; and in such cases the Rectors, Vicars or Incumbents and Churchwardens of each parish, township or place so united, together with Two of the rated inhabitants of each such parish, township or place, to be elected annually by the respec15 tive inhabitants of each such parish, township or place in vestry assembled, shall form a Committee for such Union; and all the powers hereinafter given to any such Committee may be executed by the majority of the members of the Committee at any meeting. And be it Enacted, That the Committee are hereby authorized to 20 provide a convenient site of land for the burial of the dead of the district for which the Committee shall be formed, not being land in or under which burials or interments of dead bodies are restrained from taking place under the provisions of this Act, and take a conveyance of the same to the Rector, Vicar or Incumbent and Churchwardens of 25 the parish, township, or place, or union of places for the time being, in respect of which the Cemetery shall be formed: Provided always, That no land, not already dedicated to the burial of the dead, shall be purchased for such purpose which shall be within Three hundred Yards of any house having a plantation or ornamental garden or 30 pleasure-ground occupied therewith (except with the consent in writing of the owner, lessee and occupier of such house). And be it Enacted, That it shall be lawful for all Cemetery Companies already formed, or which may hereafter be formed, and also for all bodies corporate, and for tenants for life or in tail, and for the husband, 35 guardian, trustee, committee or duly authorized attorney of every proprietor or person interested in any lands required for the purposes of this Act, as shall by reason of any legal disability or of absence beyond the seas be respectively incapable of acting for themselves, to agree with the Committee for the sale thereof, and to convey the same to the Rectors, 40 Vicars or Incumbents (as the case may be) and Churchwardens respectively for the time being of the parish, township or place, or respective parishes, townships or places in respect of which the same shall be purchased for the purposes of this Act; and all such contracts, sales and conveyances shall be valid and effectual in law to all intents and purposes. And 10. Application of Compensation when exceed ing £.200. 11. Application when Compensation is less than £. 200, but not less than £.20. 5 And be it Enacted, That if any money shall be agreed to be paid for any lands purchased or used by virtue of the powers of this Act which shall belong to any corporation, feme covert, infant, lunatic or person under any other disability or incapacity, such money shall, in case the same shall amount to the sum of Two hundred Pounds, with all convenient speed be paid into the Bank of England, in the name and with the privity of the Accountant-General of the High Court of Chancery, to be placed to his account ex parte "The Rector, Vicar or Incumbent (as the case may be), and Churchwardens of to the intent that such money shall be applied under the 10 direction and with the approbation of the said Court, to be signified by an order made upon a petition to be preferred in a summary way by the person who would have been entitled to the rents and profits of the said lands, in the purchase of the land-tax, or discharge of any debt or such other incumbrances or any part thereof as the said Court 15 shall authorize to be paid affecting the same lands, or affecting other lands standing settled therewith, to the same or the like uses, intents and purposes; or where such money shall not be so applied, then the same shall be laid out and invested, under the like direction and approbation of the said Court, in the purchase of other lands, which 20 shall be conveyed and settled to, for and upon such and the like uses, trusts, intents and purposes, and in the same manner as the lands which shall be so purchased or used as aforesaid stood settled or limited, or such of them as at the time of making such conveyance and settlement shall be existing undetermined and capable of taking 25 effect; and in the meantime and until such purchase shall be made, the said money shall, by order of the Court of Chancery, upon application thereto, be invested by the said Accountant-General, in his name, in the purchase of Three Pounds per Centum Consolidated, or Three Pounds per Centum Reduced Bank Annuities; and in the 30 meantime and until the said Bank Annuities shall be ordered by the said Court to be sold for the purposes aforesaid, the dividends and annual produce of the said Consolidated or Reduced Bank Annuities shall from time to time be paid by order of the said Court to the person who would for the time being have been entitled to the rents and 35 profits of the lands so hereby directed to be purchased in case such purchase or settlement were made. Provided always, and be it Enacted, That if any money so agreed or awarded to be paid for any lands purchased or used for the purposes aforesaid, and belonging to any corporation or to any person 40 under disability or incapacity as aforesaid, shall be less than the sum of Two hundred Pounds, and shall amount to or exceed the sum of Twenty Pounds, then and in all such cases the same shall, at the option of the person for the time being entitled to the rents and profits of the lands so purchased or used, or of his guardian or committee in case 5 case of infancy or lunacy, to be signified in writing under their respective hands, be paid into the Bank of England, in the name and with the privity of the said Accountant-General of the High Court of Chancery, and placed to his account as aforesaid, in order to be applied in manner hereinbefore directed, or otherwise the same shall be paid, at the like option, to Two Trustees, to be nominated by the person making such option, and approved of by the said Rector, Vicar or Incumbent (as the case may be) and Churchwardens (such nomination and approbation to be signified in writing under the hands 10 or seals of the nominating and approving parties), in order that such principal money and the dividends arising thereon may be applied in manner herein before directed, so far as the case be applicable, without obtaining or being required to obtain the direction or approbation of the said Court of Chancery. 15 Provided also, and be it Enacted, That where such money so agreed to be paid as next before mentioned shall be less than Twenty Pounds, then and in all such cases, the same shall be applied to the use of the person who would for the time being have been entitled to the rents and profits of the lands so purchased or used for the pur20 poses of this Act, or in case of infancy or lunacy, then to his guardian or committee, to and for the use and benefit of such person so entitled respectively. Provided always, and be it Enacted, That where any question shall arise touching the title of any person to any money to be paid into 25 the Bank of England, in the name and with the privity of the Accountant-General of the Court of Chancery, in pursuance of this Act, for the purchase of any lands, or of any estate, right or interest in any lands to be purchased in pursuance of this Act, or to any Bank Annuities to be purchased with any such money, or the dividends or 30 interest of any Bank Annuities, the person who shall have been in possession of such lands at the time of such purchase, and all persons claiming under such person, shall be deemed and taken to have been lawfully entitled to such lands according to such possession until the contrary shall be shown to the satisfaction of the said Court of Chan35 cery, and the dividends or interest of the said Bank Annuities to be purchased with such money, and also the capital of such Bank Annuities, shall be paid, applied and disposed of accordingly, unless it shall be made appear to the said Court that such possession was a wrongful possession, and that some other person was lawfully entitled 40 to such lands, or to some estate or interest therein. And be it Enacted, That it shall be lawful for the Committee to convert any such land so purchased (unless the same shall form part of some existing Cemetery, which shall render the same unnecessary) into a Cemetery or Burial-ground, and to lay out and plant the same 70. A 3 in 12. Application where Money less than £.20. 13. Upon question touching title to Money, Person in possession of Preentitled. mises deemed |