Home/Supreme Court of Missouri/Union Cemetery Ass'n v. Kansas City

Union Cemetery Ass'n v. Kansas City

161 S.W. 261, 252 Mo. 466, 1913 Mo. LEXIS 123
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedNovember 24, 1913
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 161 S.W. 261 (Union Cemetery Ass'n v. Kansas City) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Union Cemetery Ass'n v. Kansas City, 161 S.W. 261, 252 Mo. 466, 1913 Mo. LEXIS 123 (Mo. 1913).

Opinions

WOODSON, J.

The plaintiffs, the appellants here, who, for convenience, will hereafter he designated by the former appellation, instituted this suit in the circuit court of Jackson county, to enjoin the respondents, who hereafter will he referred to as defendants, from enforcing an ordinance of the city, duly enacted by the common council thereof, and approved by the .mayor July 14, 1910, forbidding burials in the grounds of the Union Cemetery, a corporation duly incorporated under the laws of this State, by a special act of the Legislature, approved November 9, 1857. [Laws, 1857 (Adj.), p. 320.]

In order to fully and properly understand the positions of the respective parties to this suit, it will be [473]*473necessary for ns to set forth both the act incorporating the cemetery and the ordinance prohibiting further burials therein.

Said act of the Legislature 'reads as follows:

“An act to incorporate the Union Cemetery Association.
“1. That James M. Hunter, Edward T. Peery, Joseph C. Ranson, William R. Bernard, Robert J. Lawrence, and Milton J. Payne, and their successors forever, be, and they are hereby created a body politic and corporate, by the name and style of the ‘Union Cemetery Association;’ and by that name have perpetual succession; sue and be sued; plead and he im-pleaded; defend and he defended in all courts in this State; and in like manner to have and use a common seal, which they may alter or change at pleasure; to make such by-laws and regulations for the good government of the corporation, and the efficient management of its affairs, as they may deem necessary; provided, the same are not inconsistent with or repugnant to the public law of the land.
“2. In addition to the tract of land now held or owned by the said corporation for a cemetery or graveyard, they shall have power to buy and hold any number of acres, not exceeding one hundred and sixty, for that purpose; may lay off the same, or any portion thereof, into lots and subdivisions suitable for graves, vaults and monuments; may embellish the same with trees, shrubbery, and flowers, or cause the same to he done by- any purchaser thereof, and lay out avenues and walks; and when so laid off and dedicated, shall be forever held by said corporation for the purpose aforesaid, and none other; said corporation may sell and convey any of the lots or subdivisions in said cemetery for the purpose aforesaid, subject to such condi[474]*474tions as may be prescribed by its by-laws; and every right sold and conveyed shall be held and used by the purchasers thereof, for the purposes aforesaid, and none other, and shall not be subject to attachments or sale under execution, nor by order of any court, or be eonveyed by the owner out of his family after any interments have been made in said lot.
“3. The officers of said corporation shall be a president, secretary and treasurer, who shall be elected every year, out of the said board of corporators; and said corporators may appoint such other officers as the board may deem needful, and prescribe the duties and terms of office; they shall also keep a.faithful record of their proceedings, copies of which, certified under the seal of the corporation, shall be received as evidence in all courts in this State; the first election shall be held on the first Monday in May A. D. 1858, and .every year thereafter, at the City of Kansas. Milton J. Payne, President, and William R. Bernard, Secretary and Treasurer, who are now the chosen officers of said corporation, shall hold their offices until the first general election, and until their successors are duly elected; and as such officers, are empowered to do and perform all the acts and things imposed on them by this act, and all vacancies that may occur in said board shall be filled in such manner as the board may determine in their by-laws.
“4. The president shall, at the request of any two of the corporators, call together a meeting of the board; shall preside at all meetings, and do all other acts and things imposed on him by the rules and regulations of said corporation.
“5. All deeds for the conveyance of lots or subdivisions, or certificates of shares of stock in said cemetery, shall be signed by the president of said corporation, and attested by the secretary, with the seal of [475]*475the corporation attached; and the further certificate of the secretary that the president executed the same shall be deemed a sufficient authentication of said deed in all courts and places whatsoever, and may be recorded with like effect of other recorded deeds.
“6. It shall be lawful for said corporation to hold any grant or bequest of money or property, in trust, and to apply the same, or the income thereof, under the direction of said board, for the improvement of said cemetery, of any portion thereof, or in the erection of any tomb or monument, according to the terms of any such grant or bequest.
‘‘ 7. Any person who shall willfully destroy, injure or remove any tomb or monument, or any gravestone placed in said cemetery, or shall wilfully remove, -destroy, cut, break or injure any fence' around, or railing, fence, tree, shrub or plant within the limits of said cemetery, or shall wilfully ride o,r drive any beast at an immoderate gait, or shall ride or drive over any lot or grave, or shall turn loose any animal in said cemetery, or shall shoot or discharge any gun or other firearms within the said limits, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor; and upon conviction thereof before any justice of the peace, or court having jurisdiction ■of misdemeanors in the county of Jackson, shall be fined not less than five nor more than fifty dollars; and such offenders shall also be liable to an action of trespass, before a justice of the peace or court of competent jurisdiction, in the name of the corporation, to recover all damages occasioned by such unlawful act or acts; and all money recovered either for a misdemeanor or for trespass, shall be "appropriated in the reparation of the property injured or destroyed, and in the embellishment and improvement of the grounds; and in all such suits members of the corporation shall be competent witnesses.
[476]*476‘ ‘ 8. Any person who shall willfully open any vault or grave within the limits of said cemetery, for the purpose of unlawfully taking therefrom anything placed with the corpse therein, or who shall remove any body from said' cemetery, for the purpose of dissection or any other unlawful purpose, or who shall knowingly receive any such body after the removal, and also all aiders and abettors, shall be deemed guilty of a felony; and upon conviction shall be punished by imprisonment in the penitentiary not less than one nor exceeding three years.
“9. Said cemetery shall be exempt from all taxes and assessments so long as the same shall remain dedicated to the purposes of a cemetery; and it shall not be lawful for any public road, street or highway to be ever opened through the cemetery grounds, without the consent of the corporators; xior shall the Legislature ever authorize the same.
“10.

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Bluebook (online)
161 S.W. 261, 252 Mo. 466, 1913 Mo. LEXIS 123, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/union-cemetery-assn-v-kansas-city-mo-1913.