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AT 2 of 1895
THE DOUGLAS CEMETERY ACT 1895
The Douglas Cemetery Act 1895
Index
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THE DOUGLAS CEMETERY ACT 1895
Index
Section
1
2
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
25A
26
27
28
Page
Short title .......................................................................................................................... 5
to 4 [Repealed] ................................................................................................................. 5
Power to make and maintain a cemetery .................................................................... 5
Power to lay out grounds .............................................................................................. 5
Provisions as to sewers and drains .............................................................................. 6
Land used for burials not to be sold ............................................................................ 6
[Repealed] ........................................................................................................................ 6
Consecration of part of the cemetery ........................................................................... 6
Removal of bodies from cemetery ................................................................................ 6
Appointment of a chaplain ............................................................................................ 6
Chaplain to perform the burial service ........................................................................ 7
Power to fix fees and salary of chaplain ...................................................................... 7
Performance of burial service by persons other than the chaplain ......................... 7
[Repealed] ........................................................................................................................ 7
Arrangements with parochial authorities ................................................................... 7
Requirements of section 10 of Burials Act, 1881, may be satisfied by an
arrangement under this Act .......................................................................................... 7
Burials to be registered .................................................................................................. 8
Power to grant exclusive rights of burial .................................................................... 8
Plan to be made of portion of cemetery set aside for private burial places
to be recorded .................................................................................................................. 8
Right of burial to be personal estate ............................................................................. 8
Register of owners of exclusive rights of burial ......................................................... 9
Burial of person entitled to exclusive right of burial ................................................. 9
Forms of grants and assignments of burial rights...................................................... 9
Removal of kerbs ............................................................................................................ 9
Fees and payments ....................................................................................................... 10
Bye-laws ......................................................................................................................... 10
to 31 [Repealed] ............................................................................................................. 10
SCHEDULE
11
FORM OF ASSIGNMENT OF RIGHT OF BURIAL
11
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AT 2 of 1895
Page 3
Index
The Douglas Cemetery Act 1895
ENDNOTES
13
TABLE OF LEGISLATION HISTORY
13
TABLE OF RENUMBERED PROVISIONS
13
TABLE OF ENDNOTE REFERENCES
13
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AT 2 of 1895
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The Douglas Cemetery Act 1895
Section 1
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THE DOUGLAS CEMETERY ACT 1895
Received Royal Assent:
Promulgated:
Commenced:
12 December 1895
7 January 1896
7 January 1896
AN ACT to enable the Douglas Town Commissioners to make and maintain a
Cemetery at Douglas.
GENERAL NOTE: References to the Registrar General are to be construed in
accordance with the General Registry Act 1965.
1
Short title
This Act may be cited as ‘The Douglas Cemetery Act, 1895’.
2
to 4 [Repealed]1
5
Power to make and maintain a cemetery
The Commissioners may make and maintain a cemetery for the burial of the
dead, with a chapel or chapels, entrance lodge or lodges, and all necessary and
proper buildings, works, and conveniences connected therewith (in this Act
called ‘the cemetery’) on any lands purchased or acquired by the
Commissioners, and make all necessary and convenient access to the cemetery,
and may thereafter maintain the same: Provided that the cemetery shall be
fenced in by the Commissioners with good and sufficient walls, banks, or other
fences, not less than five feet in height.
6
Power to lay out grounds
The Commissioners may embellish and lay out the grounds of the cemetery as
they think fit, and they shall keep the cemetery and the buildings and fences
thereof in complete repair and in good order and condition.
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AT 2 of 1895
Page 5
Section 7
7
The Douglas Cemetery Act 1895
Provisions as to sewers and drains
The Commissioners shall make all necessary and proper sewers and drains in
and about the cemetery for draining and keeping the same dry, and they may
from time to time, as occasion requires, cause any such sewer or drain to open
into any existing sewer, with the consent in writing of the persons having the
management of such sewer, and with the consent in writing of the persons
having the management of the street or road, and of the owners and occupiers
of the lands through which such opening is made, doing as little damage as
possible to the road or ground wherein such sewer or drain may be made and
restoring it to the same or as good condition as it was in before being disturbed.
8
Land used for burials not to be sold
The Commissioners shall not sell or dispose of any land which shall have been
consecrated or used for the burial of the dead, or make use of such land for any
purpose except such as is authorized by this Act.
9
[Repealed]2
10
Consecration of part of the cemetery
11
(1)
The cemetery or any part thereof may, with the consent of the
Commissioners, be consecrated according to the rites of the Church of
England or of any other church or denomination; but it shall not be
lawful for the Commissioners to pay any fees in respect of consecration.
(2)
Provided always that the consecration of such cemetery or part thereof
shall not (save as by this Act provided) confer any right or privilege, or
impose any disability, obligation, or liability which would not have
attached to such cemetery or such part thereof if the same had remained
unconsecrated.
Removal of bodies from cemetery
No body buried in any part of the cemetery shall be removed from its place of
burial without the like authority as is by law required for the removal of any
body buried in a parish burial ground.
12
Appointment of a chaplain
The Commissioners may, from time to time, appoint a chaplain or chaplains of
the cemetery, and the Commissioners shall have power to remove any such
chaplain or chaplains for any cause which shall seem to them reasonable. Such
chaplain shall not have the exclusive right to officiate at interments in any part
of the cemetery.
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The Douglas Cemetery Act 1895
13
Section 13
Chaplain to perform the burial service
The chaplain, unless prevented by sickness or reasonable cause, and unless the
person having the charge of, or being responsible for, the burial otherwise
require, shall perform burial service over all bodies brought to be buried in the
cemetery.
14
Power to fix fees and salary of chaplain
The Commissioners may fix the fees to be paid to the clergyman, minister, or
other person conducting the religious service at any burial, and they may, from
time to time, increase or reduce such fees, and they may pay the chaplain of the
cemetery by fees or by a salary, or partly by fees and partly by a salary, as they
think fit.
15
Performance of burial service by persons other than the chaplain
With the consent of the Commissioners, burials may be allowed to take place
either without any religious service, or with such Christian or orderly religious
service as the person having the charge of or being responsible for such burial
shall think fit. Such service may be performed with the consent of the
Commissioners, wholly or in part, in any chapel built in any part of the
cemetery, and any person who may be thereunto invited or be authorized by
the person having the charge of such burial may conduct such service or take
part in any religious act thereat. In this section, the words ‘Christian service’
shall include every religious service used by any church, denomination, or
person professing to be Christian.
16
[Repealed]3
17
Arrangements with parochial authorities
The Commissioners may, from time to time, make and carry out arrangements
with any parochial authority for, and with respect to, burials in the cemetery,
and the fees and charges for such burials and all incidental matters: Provided
that, subject to the provisions of this Act, the inhabitants of the town district of
Douglas shall have the same right of sepulture in the cemetery as they
respectively would have had in any burial ground or burial grounds provided
for their respective parishes.
18
Requirements of section 10 of Burials Act, 1881, may be satisfied by an
arrangement under this Act
In all cases where churchwardens are required, by section 10 of the Burials Act,
1881, to acquire land for any new or additional parish burial ground, it shall be
a sufficient compliance with the requirements of that section if the
churchwardens enter into such an arrangement with the Commissioners as in
the last preceding section mentioned.
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Section 19
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The Douglas Cemetery Act 1895
Burials to be registered
All burials within the cemetery shall be registered in a book to be provided by
the Commissioners and kept for that purpose according to the laws in force by
which registers are required to be kept by the incumbents and officiating
ministers of parishes and districts, and such register book shall be so kept by
some officer appointed by the Commissioners to that duty, and in such register
book shall be distinguished in what parts of the cemetery the several bodies of
which the burials are entered in such register book are buried, and copies or
transcripts of such register book, verified and signed by such officer as
aforesaid, shall be, from time to time, sent to the Registrar-General, to be kept
with the copies of register books of parishes, and such register book shall, in
respect to the reception thereof, and of copies thereof, as evidence of the burials
entered therein, and in respect of searches to be made therein, and for copies
and extracts to be taken therefrom, be subject to the laws in force with regard to
the register books of burials by law, required to be kept by incumbents and
officiating ministers of parishes and districts.4
20
Power to grant exclusive rights of burial
The Commissioners shall, with the approval of the Tynwald Court, and subject
to the provisions of section 25, set apart such parts of the cemetery as they think
fit for the purpose of granting exclusive rights of burial therein, and they may
sell either in perpetuity or for a limited time, and subject to such conditions as
they think fit, the exclusive right of burial in any parts of the cemetery so set
apart, or the right of one or more burials therein. The Commissioners may also
sell the right of placing any monument, gravestone, tablet, or monumental
inscription in the cemetery, or any tablet or monumental inscription on the
walls of any chapel or other building within the cemetery.
21
Plan to be made of portion of cemetery set aside for private burial
places to be recorded
The Commissioners shall cause the portion of the cemetery which they may set
aside for sale for private burial places to be set out in plots for graves or burial
places, and shall cause such ground or plots to be delineated on a map to be
signed by the Chairman and Clerk of the Commissioners, on which plan the
said plots shall be marked by numbers, and one copy of such plan shall be
deposited in the diocesan registry, and another shall be kept in the
Commissioners’ office, and in any sale of a burial plot it shall be sufficient to
refer to the plot sold by its number on the said plan.
22
Right of burial to be personal estate
The exclusive right of burial, either in perpetuity or for a limited period, in the
cemetery, or in any vault or place of burial therein, shall be deemed to be
personal estate of the grantee, and may be assigned with the consent of the
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The Douglas Cemetery Act 1895
Section 23
Commissioners or may be bequeathed by will. Any such assignment shall be
made in writing.
23
Register of owners of exclusive rights of burial
The Commissioners shall cause a register to be kept of all the burial places in
which an exclusive right of burial has been granted and of the grantees or other
persons for the time being entitled to such exclusive right. In the event of any
such right being assigned or bequeathed by will or devolving on the decease of
any person entitled thereto, the name of the assignee, legatee, or other person
becoming entitled thereto, shall, on production of the assignment, probate of the
will, or other sufficient evidence of title, be entered in the register. For every
such entry the Commissioners shall be entitled to receive such sum as they shall
fix not exceeding 13p. Until such entry no right of burial shall be acquired by
any assignee, legatee, or other person entitled.5
24
Burial of person entitled to exclusive right of burial
Upon the death of a person entitled to an exclusive right of burial in the
cemetery the person or persons having the conduct of his burial shall be entitled
to bury such person in the burial place to which such exclusive burial relates
without the consent of his legal personal representatives or of any person
claiming to be entitled to such exclusive right under his will.
25
Forms of grants and assignments of burial rights
Grants of exclusive rights of burial and assignments of such rights may be in the
forms set forth in the schedule to this Act.
25A
Removal of kerbs
Section 9 (removal of kerbs) of the Burials Act 1986 applies to the cemetery as it
applies to a parish burial ground, subject to the following modifications:
c
(a)
references to the churchwardens or to the incumbent and
churchwardens shall be construed as references to the
Corporation;
(b)
in subsection (3) (a), the words from ‘and at the main door’
onwards shall be omitted;
(c)
the reference in subsection (4) (a) to a parishioner of the parish
shall be construed as a reference to a person having a right of
sepulture in the cemetery by virtue of section 17 of this Act;
(d)
the reference in subsection (6) to the parish registers shall be
construed as a reference to the register books kept under
section 19 of this Act; and
AT 2 of 1895
Page 9
Section 26
The Douglas Cemetery Act 1895
(e)
26
the reference in subsection (7) to the sale of a burial place shall be
construed as a reference to the sale of a burial place under
section 20 of this Act.6
Fees and payments
The Commissioners shall fix and settle and receive such fees and payments in
respect of burials in the cemetery, including fees to the clergyman, minister, or
other person conducting any religious service at such interment as the
Commissioners shall think fit, and also the sums to be paid for the exclusive
right of burial, either in perpetuity or for a limited period in the cemetery, and
for the right of constructing any vault or place of burial with the exclusive right
of burial therein, in perpetuity or for a limited period, and for the right of
erecting and placing any monument, gravestone, tablet, or monumental
inscription in the cemetery, and may, from time to time, revise and alter such
fees, payments, and sums as aforesaid, and a table showing such fees,
payments, and sums, and all other fees and payments in respect of interments in
the cemetery shall be printed and published and shall be affixed and at all times
maintained on some conspicuous part of the cemetery.
27
Bye-laws
The Commissioners may make such bye-laws as they shall think fit for all or
any of the following purposes with respect to the cemetery: —
For the prevention or regulating of the posting of bills or placards, and
the writing, stamping, cutting, printing, drawing, or marking in any
manner of any word, inscription, or character, or of any representation of
any object on any building, erection, monument, tombstone, wall, railing,
fence, tree, lamp post, walk, pavement, or seat, or elsewhere in the
cemetery, or on any wall, gate, post, fence, or other thing belonging
thereto:
For the preservation of order and good conduct among persons
frequenting the cemetery:
For regulating the times of admission thereto:
For the prevention or restraint of acts or things tending to the injury or
disfigurement of the cemetery or anything in or on the same; or the
unauthorized removal of flowers, plants, trees, or shrubs:
For regulating the admission of carriages to the cemetery, and
preventing the admission of dogs to the cemetery:
And generally as to all matters connected with the good order of the
cemetery and the use of the rights of interment therein.
28
to 31 [Repealed]7
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AT 2 of 1895
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The Douglas Cemetery Act 1895
Schedule
SCHEDULE
Section 25
By virtue of the Douglas Cemetery Act, 1895, we, the Douglas Town Commissioners, in
consideration of the sum of £
, to us paid by
,
of
(hereinafter called the grantee), do hereby grant unto the
grantee,
, the exclusive right of burial, or the right of burying bodies as
the case may be, or the right of placing a monument, tablet, or gravestone
in
[here describe the ground intended for the exclusive burial, or
for placing a monument, tablet, or gravestone as the case may be, so as to identify the
same; and if a place of exclusive burial, and numbered
on
the plan of the Cemetery], to hold unto the grantee,
, in perpetuity (or the
period agreed upon), for the purpose of burial (or as the case may be)
Given under our common seal, this
day of ,
in the year of our Lord
FORM OF ASSIGNMENT OF RIGHT OF BURIAL
I, A.B., of
, in consideration of the sum of
,
paid to me by C.D., of
, do hereby assign unto the said C.D. the
exclusive right of burial in [here describe the place], and numbered
on
the plan of the Douglas Cemetery, which was granted to me
(or unto A.B., of
) in perpetuity (or as the case may be) by the Douglas
Town Commissioners, by deed of grant dated the
day of
,
to hold unto the said C.D. in perpetuity (or as the case may be, for the remainder of the
period for which the same was granted by the said Commissioners) subject to the
conditions on which I held the same immediately before the execution hereof.
Witness my hand this
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day of
AT 2 of 1895
Page 11
The Douglas Cemetery Act 1895
Endnotes
ENDNOTES
Table of Legislation History
Legislation
Year and No
Commencement
Table of Renumbered Provisions
Original
Current
Table of Endnote References
1
Ss 2 to 4 repealed by Local Government Act 1985 Sch 6.
S 9 repealed by Local Government Act 1985 Sch 6.
3 S 16 repealed by Burials Act 1986 Sch 6.
4 S 19 amended by Administration of Justice Act 1983 Sch 3.
5 S 23 amended by Decimal Currency (Isle of Man) Act 1970 s 9. See also Local
Government Miscellaneous Provisions Act 1976 s 8.
6
S 25A inserted by Burials Act 1986 Sch 5.
7 Ss 28 to 31 repealed by Local Government Act 1985 Sch 6.
2
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