Kate Falconer, ‘Trusts over Cremated Ashes’, 15 Journal of Equity 283 (2021), available at SSRN (December 1, 2021). The ‘law of the dead’ or the law of human remains is regarded as an emerging field of study that considers rights to physical possession of the deceased and control over their disposition. In the United States, it is an idiosyncratic area of the law that dresses the concept of remembering in positive legal protections. In memory of the living, we afford a now-empty vessel with quasi-property status to protect against disrespect or defilement. The law of the dead in the United States has developed in an inconsistent and formalistic way, arguably with the funeral industry having an oversized role in the process of rulemaking. In guiding the law of the dead toward more cohesive and forward-thinking rules, it is important to consider the way in which other countries address disputes involving human remains. ‘Trusts Over Cremated Ashes’, by Kate Falconer, published in 2021 in the Journal of Equity, considers the use of ‘cremated ashes trusts’ by the Australian courts … (more)
[Victoria J Haneman, JOTWELL, 23 May 2023]
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