Title 23, Health and Safety

Sections 23-06-03, 23-06-04, 23-06-05, 23-06-06, 23-06-07, 23-06-08, 23-06-09, 23-06-10, 23-06-11, 23-06-12, 23-06-16, 23-06-17, and 23-06-19 do not apply to any body or parts thereof disposed of after death pursuant to the authorization for disposal of a body or parts thereof pr…

The person charged with the duty of final disposition of the body of a deceased person is entitled to the custody of such body for the purpose of arranging for final disposition. When the coroner is required to hold an inquest, however, the coroner is entitled to the custody of t…

1. The duty of final disposition of the body of a deceased individual devolves upon the following individual in the order of priority: a. Any legally competent adult given the duty of final disposition by the deceased individual in a statement conforming with section 23-06-31, ex…

1. The dead body of a human being must be disposed of by the person charged with that duty within eight days after the death of such person except when any of the following occur: a. The right to dissect the body is expressly conferred by law. b. The body is being carried through…

Any person that fails to comply with or who violates any of the provisions of section 23-06-04, or that refuses or neglects promptly to obey any order or instruction of the local board of health, is guilty of a class B misdemeanor.

Every person upon which the duty of making final disposition of the remains of a deceased person is imposed by law that omits to perform that duty as required in this chapter is guilty of a class B misdemeanor.

The body of any individual whose death occurs in this state may not be interred, deposited in a vault or tomb, cremated, donated to a school of medicine, or otherwise disposed as authorized by law, until a final disposition-transit permit has been properly issued by a subregistra…

The final disposition-transit permit must be on the form prescribed by the state registrar of vital statistics, must be signed by the subregistrar issuing it, and may be limited to a statement by the subregistrar showing: 1. That a satisfactory death record has been filed with th…

The funeral practitioner, or individual acting as funeral practitioner, shall secure the final disposition-transit permit from the subregistrar. The funeral practitioner, or person acting as funeral practitioner, shall deliver such permit to the sexton or person in charge of the …

Each sexton or person in charge of the burial ground shall endorse the date of interment upon the final disposition-transit permit over the person's signature, and return the final disposition-transit permit to the county recorder. The subregistrar or sexton shall file all comple…

It is unlawful for a person, acting as a funeral practitioner, to inter, remove, or otherwise dispose of as authorized by law the body of any deceased individual without having received a final disposition-transit permit.

It is unlawful for a transportation company or common carrier to transport, or accept for transportation, the body of any deceased individual unless that body is accompanied by a final disposition-transit permit issued in accordance with the provisions of this chapter.

The dead body of a human being may be dissected: 1. When the death occurs under circumstances in which a coroner is authorized by law to hold an inquest upon the body, and a coroner authorizes such dissection for the purposes of the inquest; 2. If the spouse, or one of the next o…

Any medical association, licensed physician and surgeon, or medical school, upon request, may receive and remove free of charge the bodies of the following deceased persons, if such bodies are to be used within the state for the advancement of anatomical knowledge and medical sci…

If a person mentioned in section 23-06-14 has requested, during that person's last illness, that that person be buried, that person's body may not be surrendered for dissection but must be buried. If any friend, relative, or guardian of any such person requests, within thirty-six…

Every physician or surgeon and every medical school, before receiving any dead body, shall give to the officer surrendering the same a sufficient bond conditioned that the body shall be used only for the promotion of anatomical science and medical knowledge within this state and …

Any person who receives for dissection any dead body, in pursuance of the provisions of this chapter, shall decently bury the body in some public cemetery or shall cremate the same in a furnace properly constructed for that purpose after the dissection has been made.

Any person who receives a body for use under the provisions of section 23-06-14 and uses the same for any other purpose, or who removes the same beyond the limits of this state, or who buys or sells any such body, or traffics in the same, is guilty of a class B misdemeanor. It is…

All provisions of this chapter requiring the burial of a dead body or punishing interference with or injuries to a dead body apply equally to any dead limb or member of a human body, separated therefrom during lifetime.

No dead human body may be buried in this state except in a properly registered cemetery or in some other place requested by the relatives and friends of the deceased if the same is authorized by the department of health and human services and all rules and regulations promulgated…

All persons, corporations, municipalities, associations, and organizations owning, conducting, or maintaining a cemetery or plot for the burial of dead human bodies shall: 1. Provide for a sexton or secretary. 2. Cause the lot or parcel of ground used and designated as a cemetery…

Any entity owning, conducting, or maintaining a cemetery or plot for the burial of dead human bodies may use the procedures in this section to reinvest itself with the title to a portion of a cemetery which was conveyed by deed to a person but which has not been used for purposes…

The sexton or secretary appointed by the person, corporation, municipality, association, or organization conducting a cemetery for the burial of dead human bodies shall hold office until a successor is appointed and qualified. The sexton or secretary shall transfer all records to…

The department of health and human services shall make and enforce such rules and regulations as are necessary to carry out the laws relating to the regulation of cemeteries and may, through injunction or other legal process, enforce compliance.

Every person who removes any part of the dead body of a human being from any grave or other place where the same has been buried, or from any place where the same is deposited while awaiting burial, except as provided by law, is guilty of a class C felony.

Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter, the county commissioners of each county may move graves or cremate the bodies in any graves which are located in the county and maintained by the county when the gravesites are in imminent danger of destruction by natural elem…

Whenever a cemetery or other place of burial is lawfully authorized to be removed from one place to another, the right and duty to disinter, remove, and rebury the remains of bodies there lying buried devolves upon the persons whose duty it is to bury the bodies, in the order in …

Every person who purchases or who receives, except for the purpose of final disposition, any dead body of a human being, knowing that the same has been removed contrary to the provisions of this chapter, is guilty of a class C felony.

1. As used in this section: a. "Burial goods" means any objects or items interred with human remains at the time of burial. b. "Disturb" means move, open, expose, dig up, disinter, excavate, remove, carry away, damage, injure, deface, desecrate, loot, vandalize, mutilate, or dest…

Every person who arrests or attaches any dead body of a human being upon any debt or demand whatever, or who detains or claims to detain it for any debt or demand or upon any pretended lien or charge, is guilty of a class B misdemeanor.

Every person who violates any provision of this chapter relative to the dissection of dead bodies of human beings, or who makes or procures to be made any dissection of the body of a human being except by authority of law or in pursuance of permission given in accordance with the…

The board of county commissioners of each county may provide for the identification, cataloging, recording, and shall provide for the general maintenance and upkeep of each abandoned cemetery located within such county using revenues derived from its general fund levy authority. …

1. A legally competent adult may prepare a written statement directing the cremation or other lawful disposition of that adult's own remains pursuant to section 23-06-03. The written statement must be signed and dated by the legally competent adult and may be part of the legally …