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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Untitled Article
jo be added th £ \ general introduction of a new mode of interment , which is to insure to the bodies a much longer possession , ' the evil will be intolerable . A comparatively small portion of the dead will shoulder out the living and
their posterity . The whole environs of this metropolis must be surrounded by a circumvallation of church-yards , perpetually enlarging , by becoming themselves surcharged with bodies $ if , indeed , land-owners can be found
willing to divert their ground from the beneficial uses of the living to the barren preservation of the dead ; contrary to the humane maxim quoted by Tully from Plato's Republic , * ' Qua : terra fruges ferre , et , ut mater , cibos suppeditare possit , earn ne quis notis
trnnuat neve vivus neve mortuus " If , therefore , these iron coffins are to bring additional charges upon parishes , they ought to bring with them a proportionate compensation ; upon all common principles of estimated value , one must pay for the longer
lease which you actually take of the ground . And whaifc is the exception to be pleaded for iron ? If you wish to protect your deceased relative from the spoliators of the dead , by additional securities which will press upon the
convenience of the parish , we do not blame the purpose nor reject the measure ; but it is you and not the parish who must pay for that purpose . I am aware , ( as I have already hinted , ) that very ancient canons forbid the taking
of money for interment , upon the notion that consecrated grounds were among the res sacrcey and that money payments for them were therefore acts of a demoniacal complexion . But this has not been the w » y of considering that matter since the Reformation , for
the practice certainly goes up at least as far : it appears founded upon reasonable considerations , and is subjected to the proper controul of an authority of inspection . To inland svnd populous parishes , where funerals arc very frequent , the expense of keeping
church-yards in an orderly and . seemly condition is not small , and that of pur * chasing new church-yards , when the old ones are Ukely to become sutv charged , is extremely oppressive . To answer such charges , both certain and contingent , it is surely not unreasonable that the actual use should contribute
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vvlien it is called for . At the same time , parishes are not left to carve for themselves in imposing these rates ; they are submitted to ; ifte examination of the Ecd ^ iastical Magistrate , the Ordinary , who exercises his judgment
tind expresses the tc&tilt [ Ify ; & confirmation of the propriety , prbndtinced in terms of very guarcted Caution . It is difficult to say where that authority could be more properly lodged , or more conveniently exercised .
Having already declared sufficiently my opinion on the question of right , it remains only that I should direct the parish to exhibit a table of burial fees tor the consideration of the Ordinary It will be for their own consideration , in the first instance , how far these coffins should be placed upon the same
footing as those of lead . It is certain that they occupy less room , and that they are less temporary in duration ; but it is to be remembered , that being much more accessible in point of original expense , and therefore likely to be much more numerous , they are on that account more likely to convert
these cemetenes into mines of iron , than there is any hazard of their being converted into mines of lead . It may be said that this will operate indirectly as a prohibition in populous parishes and crowded church-yards f and if it should have that effect , it is still better than that the parish sliould be robbed of the £ fti ? and convenient use of their
public cemetery * Patent rights ( and oh which it seems these coffins are constructed ) must be held by the same tenure as all other rights , ita uter # jure tuo alieno ne l&das ; they must not infringe upon rights more ancient , more public , and such as this Court
is peculiaiiy bound to protect . I would recommend , in the mean time , that the body should be committed to the grave without further obstruction , but without prejudice to the present question , or to the rights of the parish . No prohibitory resolutions existed at the time of the death , and I willingly lay hold of that circumstance to reeon *
mend a measure of peuce and charity to tibe living and to the dead . ¦ , < . I shall admit affidavits to be brought in on both sides before confirming the tables of burial fees ; . i - ' * *> MMJMtfMfltBMHM $ . ¦
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Sir W . Scotfg Judgment on the Putent Coffin Case . 708
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1820, page 701, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2495/page/13/
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