ADDOLORATA CEMETERY ORDINANCE *

ADDOLORATA CEMETERY

CHAPTER 18

ADDOLORATA CEMETERY ORDINANCE *

To make certain provisions respecting the Cemetery of the Addolorata.

26th July, 1870

ORDINANCE II of 1870, as amended by Ordinances V of 1876 and XIX

of 1921; Legal Notice 4 of 1963; and Acts XI of 1977, XIII of 1983, XIII of

2005 and Legal Notice 407 of 2007 and Act XVII of 2019.

The short title of this Ordinance is the Addolorata

Cemetery Ordinance.

Every corpse or urn containing cremated remains conveyed

to the Santa Maria Addolorata Cemetery for burial without the

licence of the Police, shall be placed in the room appointed for the

purpose, and shall, unless otherwise ordered by the Police or by a

court of justice, be kept under the care of the chaplain or other

person employed in the cemetery, until the said licence be obtained.

Such licence shall contain the following particulars

(a) the date of the licence;

(b) the name, surname, profession, trade or other status,

and the age, place of birth, and that of the last abode of

the deceased;

(c) the name and surname of each of the parents of the

deceased, and whether they are living or dead;

(d) the name and surname of the husband or wife of the

deceased, and whether the deceased was married or

was a widower or a widow;

(e) the hour, the day, the month, and the year when, and

the place where, the deceased died;

(f)

the cause of the death;

(g) whether the corpse or urn containing cremated remains

is to be buried in a common or in a private grave, with

an indication, in the latter case, of the number of the

grave, and the division, article, and compartment of

the cemetery where such grave is situated, and of the

title of the deceased to be buried in it

Provided that, before issuing the said licence, the Police may ask

the applicant to produce a written statement showing such title.

For the purpose of collecting or ascertaining the particulars

mentioned in the last preceding article, the officer charged with the

duty of giving out the licence, shall have the same powers as are

under article 302 of the Civil Code vested in the officer charged

with the duty of drawing up acts of death.

*See also the Burials Ordinance (Chapter 17) and Part VI of the Code of Police Laws

(Chapter 10).

ADDOLORATA CEMETERY

If, after a careful inquiry, the officer charged with the duty

of giving out the licence, fails to obtain satisfactory information as

to any of the particulars mentioned in article 3, he shall state in the

proper place in the said licence, that such particular is not known to

him

Provided that in such case he shall, within twenty-four hours

from the drawing up of the act of death, transmit a copy of such act

to the officer of the cemetery who shall have received the licence

aforesaid.

Respecting the rights of a deceased over a private grave,

the following provisions shall, in default of proof to the contrary,

be observed

(a) all descendants of the person to whom a grave in a

church or chapel was granted and for which, according

to the provisions of the Burials Ordinance, another

grave in the cemetery has been substituted, shall be

presumed to possess an equal right to be buried in the

latter;

(b) every person is presumed to possess the right to be

buried in the grave which has been substituted for

another existing in a church or chapel, and in which

any one of his blood relations, as of his own right, was

buried;

(c) a wife or a husband may be buried in the grave of his

or her family, or in that of the respective spouse or of

his or her family.

A person having a right over a private grave which was

substituted for another existing in a church or chapel, but without

indication of the number of the latter, shall be buried in one of the

graves situated in the western division, section Z, compartment A,

of the said cemetery, and marked with numbers 1 to 30, or in one of

the graves appointed by the Superintendent of Public Health for

such purpose.

(1) A certificate from the parish priest or other superior of

a church or chapel declaring the deceased to be a descendant of a

person to whom a particular grave had been granted in that church

or chapel, or a blood relation of a person buried in that church or

chapel, and in which the number of such grave is indicated, or in

which it is stated that such grave is not numbered, or, as the case

may be, that it is not certain in which particular grave the said

relation was buried, shall be deemed sufficient for the Police to

indicate in the licence, according to the provisions of the foregoing

articles, the grave in the cemetery in which the deceased is to be

buried.

(2) The certificate mentioned in subarticle (1) shall not have

the required effect as regards the consanguinity of the deceased

person with the person to whom a grave had been granted, or who

was buried in a church or chapel, unless such certificate is signed

or countersigned by a parish priest or other ecclesiastic having the

cure of souls.

ADDOLORATA CEMETERY

In default of the certificate aforesaid, or of other proofs of

the right over a private grave, the deceased shall be buried in one of

the common graves

Provided that in such case, it shall be lawful for any person,

without the necessity of declaring his own interest, and upon

depositing, in the office of the said Superintendent of Public

Health, the sum of sixteen euros and thirty-one cents (16.31)

(representing the cost of the grave and the notarial and other

expenses in connection with the acquisition thereof), to demand

that the corpse be provisionally buried in a particular grave not yet

granted to others; and if, within two years from the day of burial, it

shall, at the suit of the said person, be declared by the court that the

deceased had a right to be buried in a private grave, the corpse

shall, upon the demand and at the expense of the said person, be, at

the proper time, removed to such grave.

Upon the removal of the corpse as provided in the last

preceding article, the depositor may withdraw from the

Superintendent of Public Health the sum as above deposited.

Where the declaration of the court as to the right of the

deceased over a private grave as provided in article 9 is not

obtained within the time established in that article, or, where such

declaration having been obtained, the corpse is not removed to such

grave within one month from the day of the said declaration, or, in

case such declaration is obtained before the expiration of one year

from the day of the burial, within one month from the date of a

notification by the Superintendent of Public Health, the sum

deposited shall be forfeited in favour of the Government, as

compensation for the grave occupied as provided in the said article

Provided that in such case, the grave shall be considered as if it

had been acquired by the person making the deposit, who shall

have a right to demand that the requisite act of grant of the same

grave be made.

Where, for the reason stated in article 12(2) of the Burials

Ordinance, a corpse has been put in deposit in the place appointed

by the Government for the purpose, the Superintendent of Public

Health, when the time has come for the corpse to be removed to its

own grave, shall give notice thereof to any of the relations or heirs

of the deceased, at his choice; and if the relation or heir fails to

effect the removal of the corpse within one month from the date of

such notice, it shall be lawful for the Superintendent of Public

Health to order its removal at the expense of the Government, and

the Superintendent of Public Health shall claim reimbursement of

such expense from the person to whom the notice aforesaid has

been addressed, saving always the right of the latter to have the

amount refunded to him by the heirs of the deceased, or, if he

himself be one of the heirs, by his co-heirs.

If a person possesses rights over two or more private

graves, the selection of the grave in which he desires to be buried

may be made even orally; and on his death, such selection shall be

deemed to be proved even by the mere oral declaration of the

ADDOLORATA CEMETERY

husband or wife, the parent, the son or daughter, or any other near

relation of the deceased, or by a similar declaration made by the

ecclesiastic or physician by whom the person aforesaid shall have

been assisted during his last illness.

A person having a right of sepulture in a particular grave,

may demand that any disposition made by him respecting the said

right, whether such disposition is to the effect that no other corpse

of any other person should be buried in that grave, or that his right

should, after his death, pass to the persons appointed by him, be

registered in the books kept in the cemetery or in any other public

office, in which private graves are registered.

(1) Any disposition as provided in the last preceding

article shall have no effect unless it be made by public deed.

(2) It shall neither have effect, if, the grave being possessed by

two or more persons, it is not made by all of such persons.

In default of any other special provision, the right of

sepulture in a particular grave, passes, on the death of the person

having that right, to his blood relations in the order in which they

are called by law to succeed ab intestato, notwithstanding that they

be not his heirs.

The Minister responsible for public health may make

regulations respecting the time and manner of conveying corpses to

the cemetery, respecting the burial of corpses, and for the good

order in such cemetery, provided that nothing in such regulations

contained shall be contrary to the provisions contained in this

Ordinance or in the Burials Ordinance.

(1) Any person who shall infringe any regulation made

under the last preceding article, shall be liable, on conviction, to

the punishments established in the Criminal Code for

contraventions.

(2) Where the offence is committed in the cemetery by a person

under fourteen years of age, who shall have entered the cemetery

under the care of another person over eighteen years of age, it shall

be lawful for the court, in respect of such offence, to sentence the

latter to a fine (ammenda) not exceeding two euros and thirty-three

cents (2.33).

(3) Any person who signs or produces to the Police any

statement required under the provision of the proviso to article 3(g)

knowing that such statement is false or that it contains a false

declaration shall be liable, on conviction, to a fine (multa) not

exceeding four hundred and sixty-five euros and eighty-seven cents

(465.87) or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months,

or to both such fine and imprisonment.