Pennsylvania Act 1893-327 — PUBLIC MORGUES, REGULATION

Act text

PUBLIC MORGUES, REGULATION
                 Act of Jun. 12, 1893, P.L. 457, No. 327              Cl. 16
                                  AN ACT

     To provide for the erection, maintenance and regulation of
        public morgues in the several counties of this Commonwealth,
        for the care and disposal of bodies removed thereto, and
        providing for the payment of certain expenses of the same by
        the proper county or district or by the estate of the
        deceased person, and providing for the disposal of the
        personal effects of unclaimed dead.

        Section 1.  Be it enacted, &c.,
        First. That county commissioners of each and every county in
     this Commonwealth, except in counties of the first class where
     the coroner shall be, and he or they are hereby authorized, and
     empowered upon presentment of two successive grand juries of the
     county, to buy or rent real estate and erect and maintain a
     morgue thereon at the expense of such county for the reception
     and care of the bodies of all unclaimed deceased persons upon
     whom it may be necessary to hold a coroner's inquest, and such
     other bodies as the coroner of such county may by written order
     direct to be received therein. The location of such morgue to be
     approved by the county commissioners and a judge of the court of
     common pleas of such county and the coroner of such county.
     Whenever any county shall contain more than one city of the
     second class, the said county commissioners of such county may
     establish a morgue in each city of the second class embraced
     within the limits of such county, as aforesaid. (Par. amended
     May 26, 1937, P.L.895, No.236)
        Second. Whenever a dead body may be found in any public
     place, or the body of any deceased person who is unknown shall
     be found within such county, the said body shall be removed to
     the morgue so established. (Par. amended Apr. 18, 1899, P.L.52,
     No.51)
        Third. The coroner of each county in which a morgue or
     morgues may be established under this act, shall make general
     rules and regulations for its government and control; and shall
     appoint suitable persons, not exceeding three in number, for
     each morgue so established, to have charge of the same, and who
     shall be removable at the pleasure of the coroner; and the
     number of such persons, and the salary of such person, shall be
     fixed by the county commissioners (or salary board if such board
     exists), except in counties of the first class, the coroner
     shall determine the number of persons needed and appoint them
     and fix their salaries. (Par. amended May 26, 1937, P.L.895,
     No.236)
        Fourth. All bodies received at said morgue or morgues shall,
     if the coroner deems it necessary, be properly embalmed or
     prepared for preservation for such length of time as he may
     think proper (and shall be subjected to examination and
     inspection by such persons as he may, in writing, authorize to
     view the same, or who may be admitted in his presence), and said
     body or bodies shall be removed for burial only upon his
     certificate.(Par. amended Apr. 18, 1899, P.L.52, No.51)
        Fifth. In counties of the first class the coroner, and in all
     other counties the county commissioners, where any such morgue
     shall have been established, shall purchase and maintain an
     ambulance for the removal of bodies to and from said morgue, and
     for the burial of unknown or unclaimed bodies, the cost of
     maintaining which shall be paid out of the funds of said county.
     (Par. amended May 26, 1937, P.L.895, No.236)
        Sixth. That all clothing and personal property of deceased
     persons received in such morgue, who are unknown or unclaimed,
     shall be retained at said morgue under charge of the coroner for
     the period of one year, unless sooner claimed by the legal
     representatives of the deceased, and at the end of one year may
     be sold at public sale, after advertisement by publication in
     one or more newspapers in said county once a week for three
     weeks, and by not less than six handbills posted in the
     neighborhood of said morgue. (Par. amended Apr. 18, 1899,
     P.L.52, No.51)
        Seventh. The proceeds of all sales of personal property, as
     provided in this act, shall be paid into the county treasury of
     the proper county upon the first day of each month, of which the
     coroner of the county shall make report in writing, under oath,
     at the time of said payment. (Par. amended Apr. 18, 1899,
     P.L.52, No.51)