Rochester Consistory Court: Goodman Ch, August 2002

The petitioner had purchased a gravespace in the consecrated section of the cemetery for the future burial of her two brothers. On the death of one brother it was discovered that a tree stump and roots made burial in the plot in question impossible. Spurred on by urgency the petitioner accepted the offer of an alternative plot where an unrelated body had been buried in 1994. The cemetery authority stated at the time that they would be able to find a suitable plot for the re-interment of the deceased brother and the subsequent burial of the second brother on his death. Following the judgment in Re Blagdon Cemetery [2002] 3 WLR 603, (2002) 6 Ecc LJ 420 the chancellor stated that exhumations would only be allowed in exceptional cases. He found that the petitioner had rebutted the presumption against exhumation in this case and noted that the application had been made very quickly after the first burial. A faculty was issued accordingly.

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(2003) 7 Ecc LJ 102