District of Columbia § 43-120 Keeping and exhibiting dead bodies.

District of Columbia Statutes

§ 43-120 — Keeping and exhibiting dead bodies.

District of Columbia § 43-120

Title 43Cemeteries and Crematories.

Ch. 1Cemetery Associations; Regulatory Provisions.

This text of District of Columbia § 43-120 (Keeping and exhibiting dead bodies.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook

D.C. Code § 43-120 (2026).

Text

No dead body or part thereof shall be kept in said District in such manner as to give rise to any offensive odors to the annoyance of any person or persons in the neighborhood or to the public, nor so as to be exposed to the public view; nor shall any such body or part thereof be permitted by the person or persons having custody or control of it to remain unburied for a longer period than 1 week after death without permission of the Director of the Department of Health, unless it has been cremated or deposited in the vault of some cemetery; nor shall any person publicly exhibit in said District, for pay or otherwise, any dead body of any human being or any part of such body without a permit from the Director of the Department of Health of said District so to do, except such exhibition be i

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No dead body or part thereof shall be kept in said District in such manner as to give rise to any offensive odors to the annoyance of any person or persons in the neighborhood or to the public, nor so as to be exposed to the public view; nor shall any such body or part thereof be permitted by the person or persons having custody or control of it to remain unburied for a longer period than 1 week after death without permission of the Director of the Department of Health, unless it has been cremated or deposited in the vault of some cemetery; nor shall any person publicly exhibit in said District, for pay or otherwise, any dead body of any human being or any part of such body without a permit from the Director of the Department of Health of said District so to do, except such exhibition be in connection with some government museum or with some institution of learning permanently located in said District.

Legislative History

Mar. 3, 1901, 31 Stat. 1297, ch. 854, § 677; Aug. 1, 1950, 64 Stat. 393, ch. 513, § 1; Oct. 8, 1981, D.C. Law 4-34, §§ 29(c)(2), 30(b)(1), 28 DCR 3271; Mar. 2, 2007, D.C. Law 16-191, §§ 8(c), 65(c), 53 DCR 6794