If any person makes affidavit to facts to authorize the coroner to disinter a body or the coroner does so of his own motion and such affidavit is made or disinterment carried out without good grounds or from malice or mischief, the person so swearing or the coroner so officiating shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. In such cases, all circumstances shall be considered by the coroner's jury; and, if it believes there were reasonable grounds for the disinterment at the time it took place, it shall be its duty to acquit.
(Orig. Code 1863, § 568; Code 1868, § 632; Code 1873, § 591; Code 1882, § 591; Penal Code 1895, § 417; Penal Code 1910, § 410; Code 1933, § 88-9921; Code 1933, § 88-2712, enacted by Ga. L. 1964, p. 499, § 1.)
Cross references.- Authority of coroner and medical examiner to disinter bodies, § 45-16-45.
RESEARCH REFERENCES
Am. Jur. 2d.
- 18 Am. Jur. 2d, Coroners or Medical Examiners, §§ 4, 5. 22A Am. Jur. 2d, Dead Bodies, §§ 50, 54, 59, 60, 74, 75, 78.
C.J.S.- 25A C.J.S., Dead Bodies, §§ 4, 19 et seq.
ALR.
- Constitutionality of statute or ordinance requiring, or permitting, removal of bodies from cemeteries, 71 A.L.R. 1040.
Removal and reinterment of remains, 21 A.L.R.2d 472.
Enforcement of preference expressed by decedent as to disposition of his body after death, 54 A.L.R.3d 1037.
Validity, construction, and application of statutes making it a criminal offense to mistreat or wrongfully dispose of dead body, 81 A.L.R.3d 1071.