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Ecclesiastical Case Reports
Re South London Crematorium
(Southwark Consistory Court: George Ch, August 2000)
Exhumation - medical reasons
In an unopposed petition, a faculty was sought to remove the cremated remains of the petitioner's father for their re-interment in Dorset, to where the petitioner's mother had moved following her husband's death. Following the death of the petitioner's mother, a double plot had been purchased with the intention that her remains and those of her late husband might be buried together. The petitioner's brother had moved from London to Dorset as a result of a history of mental depression. He received regular counselling. Citing Re Christ Church Alsager [1999] Fam 142, the chancellor noted that little weight attaches to the convenience or wishes of surviving relatives. Medical evidence described the petitioner's brother as suffering with 'a chronic disability'. The chancellor considered that 'right thinking members of the church at large' (to apply the Alsager test) would be influenced by the brother's history of serious depression, the fragility of his mental condition, and the positive impact upon this which the local co-burial of his parents would, or might, achieve. This being an exceptional case, the chancellor granted a faculty.
Note: The Alsager judgment has done little to stem the flow of petitions seeking exhumation. This decision can usefully be contrasted with Re Murray (deceased) (3 July 2000) Southward Cons Ct (unreported) in which a faculty was refused in circumstances where the medical evidence fell short of revealing a continuing psychological or psychiatric condition. A faculty was similarly refused in Re Kingston Cemetery (3 July 2000) Southwark Cons Ct (unreported) and Re Hertford Town Cemetery (7 October 2000) St Albans Cons Ct (unreported). A faculty was granted in Re Wisley with Pyrford (7 September 2000) Guildford Cons Ct (unreported) where a misapprehension as to a policy regarding a book and a garden of remembrance had caused the parents of the deceased to develop 'an invincible repugnance to the arrangements made for interment which are akin to a form of psychiatric illness' and in Re Beckenham Crematorium and Cemetery (26 October 2000) Rochester Cons Ct (unreported). In the latter, goodman Ch emphasised, 'exhumation will only be granted in rare cases and it is important that undertakers and others in the diocese do not encourage relatives to petition or build up their hopes when the prospects of success are negligible'. A faculty was also granted in Re St Giles, Goodrich (20 June 2000) Hereford Cons Ct (unreported). One reason advanced for the grant of the faculty despite the passage of more than twenty years was that the deceased was cremated rather than buried and his ashes contained in a solid casket.
[MH]
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