On Tue, 01 Dec 2015 14:42:18 +0000, Richard Smith <richard@ex-parrot.com> wrote: >On 01/12/15 10:36, johnfhhgen via wrote: > >> They *are* human remains: this recent judgement gives a good summary of >> the law in the matter - >> >> http://www.ecclesiasticallawassociation.org.uk/index.php/judgmentlist/exhumation/astwoodcemetery/download > >That's ecclesiastical law which is quite different and doesn't apply >outside churches, burial grounds, and similar. No-one is doubting you >need permission to disturb a burial ground. > "Human remains" in that context do not define (if there actually is a definition) "human remains" in the many other available contexts. Ashes which have been passed on from a crematorium are in general just ashes for parties other than the family members involved. Once a human body has been cremated or otherwise "converted" (or a part separated from a body) it is no longer a human body; this was established in recent years in English Law in two (or more?) cases involving theft (R v. Kelly and Another [http://www.e-lawresources.co.uk/cases/R-v-Kelly-1999.php]) and/or claimed improper use of body parts which maintained the principle that there was no property in a human cadaver but there was in anything later produced from it as that product was no longer a human body.