St Albans Consistory Court – The widow was unhappy that her late husband had been buried in the consecrated plot in the cemetry and sought to have the body exhumed, cremated, and re-buried in non-consecrated ground. She was and her husband had been committed humanists and the place of burial was offensive to her belief.
Held: Her evidence was inadequate to displace the normal presumption against exhumation. However the humanist belief was entitled to respect under Article 9, and the petitioner had the right ‘to remove her husband’s ashes from a place where their burial are, at least in her eyes, hypocritical and contrary to her humanist beliefs.’ That Chiristians might themselves be offended at such an action was relevenat but did not outweigh her concerns.
Judges:
Rupert Bursell QC Ch
Citations:
[2001] All ER (D) 23, [2001] HRLR 21
Statutes:
Human Rights Act 1998, European Convention on Human Rights 9
Ecclesiastical, Human Rights
Updated: 04 May 2022; Ref: scu.536638
