History of medical practice in Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

374 History of Medical Practice in Illinoisany or all of these to be imposed at the discretion of the court. The Stateof Vermont whose border lay but one mile from Dartmouth Collegepassed a like law in1804. Soon, during subsequent years, other states ofNew England enacted statutes of the same kind, imposing greater or lesserpenalties for grave-robbing, the severity of the punishment increasing asmore medical schools sprang up and the number of their students grew.These laws not only defined the punishment for illegal disinterment, butalso the same penalties for the transportation, the concealment or thepresence of the dead body on the premises of the accused.As the succeeding years showed, the laws against grave-robbing weredifficult to enforce. Among the several reasons that come to mind, the leastobvious is a legal one. To apply the term "theft" to taking a dead humanbody is not strictly correct, for "it is a well-recognized, and almost universalrule of law that a dead human body is not property, and that thereis no true proprietary interest or right of property therein." 20 This is notmere pedantry, for "if a dead body were property in the true sense, itwould follow that one might gain title thereto." Briefly stated, ownershipis the right to the exclusive possession, use and enjoyment of the property.Thus, according to English Law, which governed the American colonies,and which was adopted by the United States and has been affirmed innumerous court decisions, a dead person is not property. "A corollary ofthis legal principle is that a person while living, cannot legally devise bywill nor convey by gift or contract what will later be his dead body." SirWilliam Blackstone stated in his "Commentaries" that "the heir has aproperty in the monuments and escutcheons of his ancestors, yet he hasnone in their bodies or ashes." In 1869 the State of Maine tried to supercedethis general principle with the enactment of a statute which said:"If any person requests during his life that his body be delivered to aregular physician or surgeon for the advancement of anatomical sciencesafter his death, it may be used for the purpose unless some kindred orfriend asks within three days, that it be buried." More recently the statesof New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota have specificallyprovided by statute that the decedent has the right to dispose of hisbody, or parts thereof, by will. 21 Most recently (1947), the state of Californiahas enacted a like decree on the testamentary disposition of thebody; 22 it may be that other states have proceeded similarly. From these20Weinmann, George H.: A survey of the law concerning dead human bodies. (Issuedunder the auspices of the Committee on Medicolegal Problems), Bulletin of the NationalResearch Council. No. 73. Dec. 1929.21 Cf. Weinmann, ibid.22In the autumn of 1953, soon after assuming the headship in Anatomy in the School ofMedicine of the College of Medical Evangelists at Loma Linda, California, the writer,while perusing the filed records and documents regarding the human bodies received,