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This version of this statute is extracted from the UK Statute Law Database (SLD). It is not necessarily in the form in which it was originally enacted but is a revised version, which means that any subsequent amendments to the text and other effects are incorporated with annotations.
An Act for the regulation of the burning of Human Remains, and to enable Burial Authorities to establish Crematoria.
[22nd July 1902]
C1Act applied with modifications by Belfast Corporation Act 1948 (c. i), s. 26.
This Act may be cited as the Cremation Act 1902.
In this Act—
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F1
The expression “crematorium” shall mean any building fitted with appliances for the purpose of burning human remains, and shall include everything incidental or ancillary thereto.
F1Definition of “burial authority” repealed by Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1978 (c. 45), s. 1, Sch. 1 Pt. XVII
In the application of this Act to Scotland—
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F1
The expression “the Local Government Board” shall mean the [F2Secretary of State]
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F3
F1Definition of “burial authority” repealed by Statute Law (Repeals) Act 1978 (c. 45), s. 1, Sch. 1 Pt. XVII
F2Words substituted by virtue of Scottish Board of Health Act 1919 (c. 20), s. 4(1)(a)(5), Sch. 1, Reorganisation of Offices (Scotland) Act 1928 (c. 34), s. 1 and Reorganisation of Offices (Scotland) Act 1939 (c. 20), s. 1
F3Definition of “Secretary of State” repealed by Statute Law Revision Act 1927 (c. 42)
The powers of a burial authority to provide and maintain burial grounds or cemeteries, or anything essential, ancillary or incidental thereto, shall be deemed to extend to and include the provision and maintenance of crematoria:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F1
F1Proviso repealed except in relation to crematorium established before 26.9.1952 by Crematorium Act 1952 (c. 31), s. 1(2)
No crematorium shall be constructed nearer to any dwelling-house than two hundred yards, except with the consent, in writing of the owner, lessee and occupier of such house, nor within fifty yards of any public highway, nor in the consecrated part of the burial ground of any burial authority.
C1S. 5 amended as to Greater London by London County Council (General Powers) Act 1935 (c. xxxiii), s. 64 and Greater London Council (General Powers) Act 1971 (c. xxviii), s. 7
A burial authority may accept a donation of land for the purpose of a crematorium, and a donation of money or other property for enabling them to acquire, construct or maintain a crematorium.
The Secretary of State shall make regulations as to the maintenance and inspection of crematoria, and prescribing in what cases and under what conditions the burning of any human remains may take place, and directing the disposition or interment of the ashes, and prescribing the forms of the notices, certificates and [F1applications] to be given or made before any such burning is permitted to take place . . . F2 and also regulations as to the registration of such burnings as have taken place. [F3Each such application shall be verified in such manner as the Secretary of State may by such regulations prescribe] . . . F2 All statutory provisions relating to the destruction and falsification of registers of burials, and the admissibility of extracts therefrom as evidence in courts and otherwise, shall apply to the register of burnings directed by such regulations to be kept . . . F4
F1Word substituted by Cremation Act 1952 (c. 31) s. 2(1)
F2Words repealed by Cremation Act 1952 (c. 31), s. 2(1)(2)
F3Words inserted by Cremation Act 1952 (c. 31), s. 2(1)
F4Words repealed by Finance Act 1949 (c. 47), Sch. 11 Pt. V
C1S. 7 extended (E.W.) by Births and Deaths Registration Act 1926 (c. 48), s. 10; amended by Cremation Act 1952 (c. 31), s. 2(2)
(1)Every person who shall contravene any such regulation as aforesaid, or shall knowingly carry out or procure or take part in the burning of any human remains except in accordance with such regulations and the provisions of this Act, shall (in addition to any liability or penalty which he may otherwise incur) be liable, on summary conviction, to a penalty not exceeding [F1level 3 on the standard scale]. F2. . .
(2)Every person who shall wilfully make any false . . . F3 representation, or sign or utter any false certificate, with a view to procuring the burning of any human remains, shall (in addition to any penalty or liability which he may otherwise incur) be liable to imprisonment, . . . F4, not exceeding two years.
[F5(3) Every person who, with intent to conceal the commission or impede the prosecution of any offence, procures or attempts to procure the cremation of any body, or, with such intent, makes any [F6application] or gives any certificate under this Act, shall be liable to conviction on indictment to [F7imprisonment] for a term not exceeding five years.]
F1Words substituted by virtue of (E.W.) Criminal Justice Act 1982 (c. 48, SIF 39:1), ss. 38, 46 and (S.) Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1975 (c. 21, SIF 39:1), ss. 289F, 289G
F2Words in s. 8(1) repealed (5.11.1993) by 1993 c. 50, s. 1(1), Sch. 1 Pt. I Group1
F3Words repealed by Perjury Act 1911 (c. 6) Sch. and False Oaths (Scotland) Act 1933 (c. 20), Sch.
F4Words omitted by virtue of Criminal Justice Act 1948 (c. 58), s. 1(2) and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1949 (c. 94), s. 16(2)
F5S. 8(3) repealed (E.W.) by Criminal Law Act 1967 (c. 58), Sch. 3 Pt. III
F6Word substituted by Cremation Act 1952 (c. 31), s. 2(3)
F7Word substituted by virtue of Criminal Justice Act 1948 (c. 58), s. 1(1) and Criminal Justice (Scotland) Act 1949 (c. 94) s. 16(2)
C1S. 8(2) amended (E.W.) as to mode of trial by Magistrates' Courts Act 1980 (c. 43, SIF 82), s. 17, Sch. 1 para. 13
The burial authority may demand payment of [F1 [F2any such]] charges or fees, for the burning of human remains in any crematorium provided by them, [F1 [F2as may be authorised by any table approved by the Local Government Board,]] and such charges or fees, and any other expenses properly incurred in or in connection with the cremation of a deceased person, shall be deemed to be part of the funeral expenses of the deceased.
F1Words repealed (E.W.) by Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70), Sch. 26 para. 24, Sch. 30
F2Words repealed (S.) by Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) (Scotland) Act 1981 (c. 23, SIF 81:2), s. 41, Sch. 4
C1Burial authority required to keep a table of fees: Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) Sch. 26 para. 24
Nothing in this Act shall interfere with the jurisdication of any coroner under the [F1M1Coroners Act 1887 or any Act amending the same][F1the Coroners Act 1988], and nothing in this Act shall authorise the burial authority or any person to create or permit a nuisance.
F1Words “the Coroners Act 1988” substituted (E.W.) for the words “the Coroners Act 1887, or any Act amending the same” by Coroners Act 1988 (c. 13, SIF 33), ss. 33, 36(1), Sch. 3 para. 2
M11887 c. 71.
The incumbent of any ecclesiastical parish shall not, with respect to his parishioners or persons dying in his parish, be under any obligation to perform a funeral service before, at or after the cremation of their remains, within the ground of a burial authority, but, upon his refusal so to do, any clerk in Holy Order of the Established Church, not being prohibited under ecclesiastical censure, may, with the permission of the bishop and at the request of the executor of the deceased person or of the burial authority or other person having the charge of the cremation or interment of the cremated remains, perform such service within such ground.]
F1S. 11 repealed (Provinces of Canterbury and York except Channel Islands and Isle of Man) (11.7.1992) by Church of England (Miscellaneous Provisions) Measure 1992 (No. 1), ss. 2(5), 17(2), Sch. 4 Pt.II;Instrument dated 11.7.1992 made by Archbishops of Canterbury and York.
In any table of fees respecting burials [F1to be made or approved by the Secretary of State,] a fee may be fixed in respect of a burial service before, at or after cremation, and, if no fee is fixed, the fee, if any, fixed in respect of a burial service shall apply.
F1Words repealed (E.W.) by Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70), Sch. 26 para. 24, Sch. 30
Sections fifty-two and fifty-seven of the Cemeteries Clauses Act 1847 and any similar provisions in any local and personal Act authorising the making of a cemetery, shall apply to the disposition or interment of the ashes of a cremated body, as if it were the burial of a body.
As from the date at which regulations under this Act come into force, any provisions of any local and personal Act for the like purpose as this Act, and any byelaws or regulations made thereunder, shall, so far as they relate to that purpose, cease to be in operation.
This Act shall not apply to Ireland.
Cremation Act 1902