_The Passing of the Anatomy Act--Its Terms and Provisions._
Such were the circumstances that led up to the passing of what was
familiarly known as the Anatomy Act. In view of the long course of
restriction to which it put an end, and of the fact that this measure is
still operative as regards the matter of which it treats, it is proper
that it should be reproduced here. It received the Royal assent on the 1st
of August, 1832, and is technically known as 3 and 4 Geo. IV., c. 75, the
short title being "An Act for regulating Schools of Anatomy." The
following are its terms and provisions:--
"Whereas a knowledge of the causes and nature of sundry diseases which
affect the body, and the best methods of treating and curing such
diseases, and of healing and repairing divers wounds and injuries to which
the human frame is liable, cannot be acquired without the aid of
anatomical examination: And whereas the legal supply of human bodies for
such anatomical examination is insufficient fully to provide the means of
such knowledge: And whereas in order further to supply human bodies for
such purposes, divers great and grievous crimes have been committed, and
lately murder, for the single object of selling for such purposes the
bodies of the persons so murdered: And whereas, therefore, it is highly
expedient to give protection, under certain regulations, to the study and
practice of anatomy, and to prevent, as far as may be, such great and
grievous crimes and murder as aforesaid: Be it therefore enacted by the
King'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, that it shall be lawful for
his Majesty's principal secretary of state for the time being for the home
department in that part of the United Kingdom called Great Britain, and
for the chief secretary for Ireland in that part of the United Kingdom
called Ireland, immediately on the passing of this Act, or so soon
thereafter as may be required, to grant a license to practise anatomy to
any fellow or member of any college of physicians or surgeons, or to any
graduate or licentiate in medicine, or to any person lawfully qualified to
practise medicine in any part of the United Kingdom, or to any professor
or teacher of anatomy, medicine, or surgery, or to any student attending
any school of anatomy, on application from such party for such purpose,
countersigned by two of his Majesty's justices of the peace acting for the
county, city, borough, or place wherein such party so applying is about to
carry on the practice of anatomy.
"2. And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for his Majesty's said
principal secretary of state or chief secretary, as the case may be,
immediately on the passing of this Act, or as soon thereafter as may be
necessary, to appoint respectively not fewer than three persons to be
inspectors of places where anatomy is carried on, and at any time after
such first appointment to appoint, if they shall see fit, one or more
other person or persons to be an inspector or inspectors as aforesaid; and
every such inspector shall continue in office for one year, or until he be
removed by the said secretary of state or chief secretary, as the case may
be, or until some other person shall be appointed in his place; and as
often as any inspector appointed as aforesaid shall die, or shall be
removed from his said office, or shall refuse or become unable to act, it
shall be lawful for the said secretary of state or chief secretary, as the
case may be, to appoint another person to be inspector in his room.
"3. And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for the said secretary of
state or chief secretary, as the case may be, to direct what district of
town or country, or of both, and what places where anatomy is carried on,
situate within such district, every such inspector shall be appointed to
superintend, and in what manner every such inspector shall transact the
duties of his office.
"4. And be it enacted, that every inspector to be appointed by virtue of
this Act shall make a quarterly return to the said secretary of state or
chief secretary, as the case may be, of every deceased person's body that
during the preceding quarter has been removed for anatomical examination
to every separate place in his district where anatomy is carried on
distinguishing the sex, and, as far as is known at the time, the name and
age of each person whose body was so removed as aforesaid.
"5. And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for every such inspector to
visit and inspect at any time any place within his district, notice of
which place has been given, as is hereinafter directed, that it is
intended there to practise anatomy.
"6. And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for his Majesty to grant to
every such inspector such an annual salary not exceeding one hundred
pounds for his trouble, and to allow such a sum of money for the expenses
of his office as may appear reasonable, such salaries and allowances to be
charged on the consolidated fund of the United Kingdom, and to be payable
quarterly; and that an annual return of all such salaries and allowances
shall be made to Parliament.
"7. And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for any executor or other
party having lawful possession of the body of any deceased person, and not
being an undertaker or other party intrusted with the body for the purpose
only of interment, to permit the body of such deceased person to undergo
anatomical examination, unless, to the knowledge of such executor or other
party, such person shall have expressed his desire, either in writing at
any time during his life, or verbally in the presence of two or more
witnesses during the illness whereof he died, that his body after death
might not undergo such examination, or unless the surviving husband or
wife, or any known relation of the deceased person, shall require the body
to be interred without such examination.
"8. And be it enacted, that if any person, either in writing at any time
during his life, or verbally in the presence of two or more witnesses
during the illness whereof he died, shall direct that his body after death
be examined anatomically, or shall nominate any party by this Act
authorized to examine bodies anatomically to make such examination, and
if, before the burial of the body of such person, such direction or
nomination shall be made known to the party having lawful possession of
the dead body, then such last mentioned party shall direct such
examination to be made, and in case of any such nomination as aforesaid,
shall request and permit any party so authorised and nominated as
aforesaid to make such examination, unless the deceased person's surviving
husband or wife, or nearest known relative, or any one or more of such
person's nearest known relatives, being of kin in the same degree, shall
require the body to be interred without such examination.
"9. Provided always, and be it enacted, that in no case shall the body of
any person be removed for anatomical examination from any place where such
person may have died until after forty-eight hours from the time of such
person's decease, nor until twenty-four hours notice, to be reckoned from
the time of such decease, to the inspector of the district, of the
intended removal of the body, or if no such inspector have been appointed,
to some physician, surgeon, or apothecary residing at or near the place of
death, nor unless a certificate stating in what manner such person came by
his death, shall previously to the removal of the body have been signed by
the physician, surgeon, or apothecary who attended such person during the
illness whereof he died, or if no such medical man attended such person
during such illness, then by some physician, surgeon, or apothecary who
shall be called in after the death of such person, to view his body, or
who shall state the manner or cause of death according to the best of his
knowledge and belief, but who shall not be concerned in examining the body
after removal; and that in case of such removal such certificate shall be
delivered, together with the body, to the party receiving the same for
anatomical examination.
"10. And be it enacted, that it shall be lawful for any member or fellow
of any college of physicians or surgeons, or any graduate or licentiate in
medicine, or any person lawfully qualified to practice medicine in any
part of the United Kingdom, or any professor, teacher, or student of
anatomy, medicine, or surgery, having a license from his Majesty's
principal secretary of state or chief secretary as aforesaid, to receive
or possess for anatomical examination, or to examine anatomically, the
body of any person deceased, if permitted or directed so to do by a party
who had at the time of giving such permission or direction lawful
possession of the body, and who had power, in pursuance of the provisions
of this Act, to permit or cause the body to be so examined, and provided
such certificates as aforesaid were delivered by such party together with
the body.
"11. And be it enacted, that every party so receiving a body for
anatomical examination after removal shall demand and receive, together
with the body, a certificate as aforesaid, and shall, within twenty-four
hours next after such removal, transmit to the inspector of the district
such certificate, and also a return stating at what day and hour and from
whom the body was received, the date and place of death, the sex, and (as
far as is known at the time) the christian and surname, age, and last
place of abode of such person, or, if no such inspector have been
appointed, to some physician, surgeon, or apothecary residing at or near
the place to which the body is removed, and shall enter or cause to be
entered the aforesaid particulars relating thereto, and a copy of the
certificate be received therewith, in a book to be kept by him for that
purpose, and shall produce such book whenever required so to do by any
inspector so appointed as aforesaid.
"12. And be it enacted, that it shall not be lawful for any party to carry
on or teach anatomy at any place, or at any place to receive or possess
for anatomical examination, or examine anatomically, any deceased person's
body after removal of the same, unless such party, or the owner or
occupier of such place, or some party by this Act authorised to examine
bodies anatomically, shall, at least one week before the first receipt or
possession of a body for such purpose at such place, have given notice to
the said secretary of state or chief secretary, as the case may be, of the
place where it is intended to practise anatomy.
"13. Provided always, and be it enacted, that every such body so removed
as aforesaid for the purpose of examination shall, before such removal, be
placed in a decent coffin or shell, and be removed therein; and that the
party removing the same, or causing the same to be removed as aforesaid,
shall make provision that such body, after undergoing anatomical
examination, be decently interred in consecrated ground, or in some public
burial-ground in use for persons of that religious persuasion to which the
person whose body was so removed belonged; and that a certificate of the
interment of such body shall be transmitted to the inspector of the
district within six weeks after the day on which such body was received as
aforesaid.
"14. And be it enacted, that no member or fellow of any college of
physicians or surgeons, nor any graduate or licentiate in medicine, nor
any person lawfully qualified to practise medicine in any part of the
United Kingdom, nor any professor, teacher, or student of anatomy,
medicine, or surgery, having a license from his Majesty's principal
secretary of state or chief secretary as aforesaid, shall be liable to any
prosecution, penalty, forfeiture, or punishment for receiving or having in
his possession for anatomical examination, or for examining anatomically,
any dead human body, according to the provision of this Act.
"15. And be it enacted, that nothing in this Act contained shall be
construed to extend to or to prohibit any post-mortem examination of any
human body required or directed to be made by any competent legal
authority.
"16. And whereas an Act was passed in the ninth year of the reign of his
late Majesty, for consolidating and amending the statutes in England
relative to offences against the person, by which latter Act it is
enacted, that the body of every person convicted of murder shall, after
execution, either be dissected or hung in chains, as to the court which
tried the offence shall seem meet, and that the sentence to be pronounced
by the court shall express that the body of the offender shall be
dissected or hung in chains, whichever of the two the court shall order.
Be it enacted, that so much of the said last recited Act as authorises the
court, if it shall see fit, to direct that the body of a person convicted
of murder shall, after execution, be dissected, be and the same is hereby
repealed; and that in every case of conviction of any prisoner for murder
the court before which such prisoner shall have been tried shall direct
such prisoner either to be hung in chains, or to be buried within the
precincts of the prison in which such prisoner shall have been confined
after conviction, as to such court shall seem meet; and that the sentence
to be pronounced by the court shall express that the body of such prisoner
shall be hung in chains, or buried within the precincts of the prison,
whichever of the two the court shall order.
"17. And be it enacted, that if any action or suit shall be commenced or
brought against any person for anything done in pursuance of this Act, the
same shall be commenced within six calendar months next after the cause of
action accrued; and the defendant in every such action or suit may, at his
election, plead the matter specially or the general issue Not Guilty, and
give this Act and the special matter in evidence at any trial to be had
thereupon.
"18. And be it enacted, that any person offending against the provisions
of this Act in England or Ireland shall be deemed and taken to be guilty
of a misdemeanour, and being duly convicted thereof, shall be punished by
imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or by a fine not
exceeding fifty pounds, at the discretion of the court before which he
shall be tried; and any person offending against the provisions of this
Act in Scotland shall, upon being duly convicted of such offence, be
punished by imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months, or by a
fine not exceeding fifty pounds, at the discretion of the court before
which he shall be tried.
"19. And in order to remove doubts as to the meaning of certain words in
this Act, be it enacted, that the words 'person and party' shall be
respectively deemed to include any number of persons, or any society,
whether by charter or otherwise; and that the meaning of the aforesaid
words shall not be restricted, although the same may be subsequently
referred to in the singular number and masculine gender only."