9 P.S. § 47 Change of Location of Burial Grounds Or Portions Thereof; Removal of Bodies; Title to Lots Conveyed; Rights of Lot Holders

• Library: Pennsylvania Statutes
• Edition: 2023
• Currency: Current through P.A. Acts 2023-27
• Year: 2023
• Citation: 9 P.S. § 47

Whenever any incorporated or unincorporated church, cemetery, or burial association own burial grounds, wholly or in part in any city, township, or borough in this Commonwealth, and by reason of the growth thereof, as well as for sanitary purposes, it is deemed necessary or desirable, in the opinion of the said church, cemetery, or burial association, to change the location thereof; or if, by reason of the opening of streets, roads, or public passages around or through the same, a portion of the property has become angular and partly surrounded by improvements; or if, by reason of the proximity of adjacent property, the interment of the dead may, in the interest of public health, be prohibited in any part or parts of the ground belonging to any incorporated or unincorporated church, cemetery, or burial association aforesaid; or, from other causes, any burial-ground, belonging to or in charge of any incorporated or unincorporated church, cemetery, or burial association, has ceased to be used for interments, and has become so neglected as to become a public nuisance; or that the remains of bodies interred in any such neglected or disused cemetery, in any city, township, or borough, interfere with and hinder the improvements, extensions, and general progressive interest of any city, township, or borough,--it shall be lawful for such incorporated or unincorporated church, cemetery, or burial association, and they are hereby authorized and empowered, to purchase new and more suitable grounds in the vicinity of such city, township, or borough, of such extent and area as they shall deem expedient; or to purchase lots or sections in other properly regulated burial-ground or cemetery in the vicinity of such city, township, or borough, for the burial of the dead; and to purchase from the holders of lots in their own grounds the said lots, whether interments have been made in them or not, and provide for the reinterment of bodies that may be buried in any of the lots so purchased by them. And the board of managers, trustees, or other officials in whom is vested the management of the affairs of such incorporated or unincorporated church, cemetery, or burial association, are also hereby authorized and empowered to contract and agree with the owners of the lots in which interments have been made to remove from said lots the dead, to such new locations, upon such terms as may or can be mutually agreed upon. And in case any bodies have been interred in lots in such cemetery or cemeteries, and the owner...