Burial Grounds (Ireland) Act 1856
| Year | 1856 |
(19 & 20 Vict.) C A P. XCVIII.
[29th July 1856]
BE it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, as follows:
I Short Title.
I. This Act may be cited as ‘TheBurial Grounds (Ireland ) Act, 1856.’
II Interpretation of Terms.
II. In this Act the following Words and Expressions shall have the several Meanings hereby assigned to them, unless there be something in the Subject or Context repugnant to such Construction; that is to say, ‘Lord Lieutenant’ shall mean the Lord Lieutenant ofIreland or other Chief Governor or Governors thereof; ‘Council’ shall mean Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland ; ‘Borough’ shall mean any Borough or Town Corporate in Ireland , or any Town in which a Board of Municipal Commissioners shall have been elected, under the Provisions of an Act of the Third and Fourth Years of Her present Majesty, Chapter One hundred and eight, or in which Town Commissioners shall have been appointed, under the Provisions of an Act of the Ninth Year of King George the Fourth, Chapter Eighty-two, or an Act of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Years of Her present Majesty, Chapter One hundred and three, or any Act amending the same; ‘Town Council’ shall mean the Town Council of the Borough, or, where there is no Town Council, the Board of Municipal Commissioners, or the Town Commissioners acting for the Borough or Town; ‘the Borough Fund’ shall be held to include ‘the Town Fund;’‘Parish’ shall extend to any Extra-parochial Precinct or Place; ‘Ratepayers’ shall mean the Persons for the Time being assessed to and paying Rates, or liable to be rated, under the Provisions of this Act; ‘Town Clerk’ shall mean the Town Clerk of the Borough, or, where there is no Town Clerk, the Clerk of the Board of Municipal Commissioners, or of the Town Commissioners acting for the Borough or Town.
III Burial Boards to carry this Act into execution.
III. In the Execution of this Act in Poor Law Unions, or any Portion thereof not within the Limits or Boundaries of any Borough as defined by this Act, ‘Burial Board’ shall be held to signify the Board of Guardians for the Relief of the Poor within any such Poor Law Union or Portion thereof, and the Manner of holding and transacting Business at Meetings of such Burial Boards shall be similar to the Manner in use in respect of the Relief of the Poor, and within the Limits or Boundaries of any Borough ‘the Town Council of the Borough’ shall be held to be the ‘Burial Board’ of such Borough.
IV Guardians subject to Poor Law Commissioners.
IV. The Board of Guardians for the Relief of the Poor shall, in carrying into execution the Provisions of this Act, be subject to the Direction and Control of the Commissioners appointed for administering the Law for the Relief of the Poor inIreland .
V On Representation duly made to him, Lord Lieutenant in Council may restrain theopening of new Burial Grounds, and order Discontinuance of Burials in specified Places.
V. In case it shall appear to the Lord Lieutenant in Council, upon Representation duly made to him, that for the Protection of the Public Health the opening of any new Burial Ground in any City or Town or within any other Limits inIreland , save with the Approval of the Lord Lieutenant, should be prohibited, or that Burials in any City or Town or within any other Limits, or in any Burial Grounds or Places of Burial, should be wholly discontinued, or should be discontinued subject to any Exception or Qualification, it shall be lawful for the Lord Lieutenant, by and with the Advice of Her Majesty's Privy Council in Ireland , to order that no new Burial Ground shall be opened in any City or Town or within such Limits without such previous Approval, or (as the Case may require) that after a Time mentioned in the Order Burials in such City or Town or within such Limits, or in such Burial Grounds or Places of Burial, shall be discontinued, wholly, or subject to any Exceptions or Qualifications mentioned in such Orders, and so from Time to Time as Circumstances may require: Provided always, that Notice of such Representation, and of the Time when it shall please the Lord Lieutenant to order the same to be taken into consideration by the Privy Council, shall be published in the Dublin Gazette , and shall be affixed on the Doors of the Churches or Chapels of or on some other conspicuous Places within the Parishes affected by such Representation, One Month before such Representation is so considered.
VI Lord Lieutenant in Council may postpone Order for Discontinuance of Burials, &c.
VI. It shall be lawful for the Lord Lieutenant, by and with the Advice of the Privy Council, to postpone the Time appointed by any Order in Council for the Discontinuance of Burials, or otherwise to vary any Order in Council made under this Act (whether the Time thereby appointed for the Discontinuance of Burials thereunder or other Operation of such Order shall or shall not have arrived,) as to the Lord Lieutenant in Council shall seem fit; and every Order of the Lord Lieutenant in Council made for varying any Order previously made under this Act shall be deemed valid and effectual in Law.
VII Order not to extend to Burial Grounds of Quakers, &c.
VII. No such Order in Council as aforesaid shall be deemed to extend to any Burial Ground of the People called Quakers, used solely for the Burial of the Bodies of such People, unless the same shall be expressly mentioned in such Order; and nothing in this Act shall prevent the Burial in any such Burial Ground in which for the Time being Interment is not required to be discontinued of the Bodies of such People.
VIII Order not to extend to Burial Grounds of French Protestants, &c.
VIII. Provided, That no such Order in Council as aforesaid shall be deemed to extend to the Burial Grounds or Cemeteries situate respectively inMerrion Row and Peter Street in the City of Dublin , the Property of the French Protestants, and used solely for the Burial of the Bodies of the Descendants of the French Protestant Refugees, unless the same be expressly mentioned in such Order; and nothing in this Act shall prevent the Burial as heretofore in such Burial Grounds or Cemeteries respectively, so situate in Merrion Row and Peter Street aforesaid, of the Bodies of such Descendants of French Protestant Refugees.
IX Penalty on Persons burying contrary to Provisions of Orders in Council.
IX. If any Person, after the Time mentioned in any Order in Council under this Act for the Discontinuance of Burials, shall knowingly and wilfully bury any Body, or in anywise act or assist in the Burial of any Body, in or under any Church, Chapel, Churchyard, Burial Ground, or Place of Burial, or elsewhere, as the Case may be, within the Limits in which Burials have by such Order been ordered to be discontinued, in violation of the Provisions of any such Order, every Person so offending shall, upon summary Conviction thereof, forfeit a Sum not exceeding Ten Pounds.
X Saving of certain Rights to bury in Vaults.
X. Provided always, That, notwithstanding any such Order in Council, where, by virtue of any Faculty legally granted, or by Usage or otherwise, there is at the Time of the passing of this Act any Usage or Right of Interment in or under any Church or Chapel affected by such Order, or in any Vault of any such Church or Chapel, or of any Churchyard or Burial Ground affected by such Order, and where any exclusive Right of Interment in any such Burial Ground has been purchased or acquired before the passing of this Act, it shall be lawful for the Lord Lieutenant, from Time to Time, on Application being made to him, and on being satisfied that the Exercise of such Right shall not be injurious to Health, to grant a Licence for the Exercise of such Right, during such Time and subject to such Conditions and Restrictions as the Lord Lieutenant may think fit; but such Licence shall not prejudice or in anywise affect the Authority of the Ordinary, or of any other Person who if this Act had not been passed might have prohibited or controlled Interment under such Right, nor dispense with any Consent which would have been required under such Right, nor otherwise give to such Right any greater Force or Effect than the same would have had if this Act had not been passed.
XI New Burial Grounds not to be opened contrary to Order in Council.
XI. Where by any such Order in Council it is ordered that no new Burial Ground shall be opened in any City or Town or within any Limits in such Order mentioned, without the previous Approval of the Lord Lieutenant, no new Burial Ground or Cemetery (parochial or non-parochial) shall be provided and used in such City or Town or within such Limits without such previous Approval.
XII No Corpse to be buried in private Grave without Consent.
XII. Where by Usage or otherwise any Grave, Vault, or Place of Interment in any Burial Ground or Cemetery has been the burying Place of and used as...
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