Newcastle Consistory Court: McClean Ch, November 1998
The petitioner sought a faculty for the erection of a headstone over the grave of his deceased parents. The burials, which had taken place in 1995 and 1996 respectively, were unlawful, because the graveyard had been closed by an Order in Council made in 1980 pursuant to the Burial Act 1853 and, save in certain exceptional circumstances, subsequent burials are unlawful under section 3 of the Act, for which a penalty is provided under section 2 of the Burial Act 1855. The chancellor considered that the issue of the proposed headstone should be considered separately from that of the illegality of the burials, for which the incumbent took full responsibility. The chancellor considered that a mistake in the administration of the burial laws should not condemn the deceased to lie in an unmarked grave but noted that the presence of a fresh headstone might give others the impression that the churchyard remained open. In granting the faculty he made it clear that this in no way affected the unlawful nature of the burials and that no further burials were to be permitted in the churchyard save under the Order in Council.
(1999) 5 Ecc LJ 301
