Ark. Code Ann. » Title 14 Chapter 54
Arkansas Code Annotated

Ark. Code Ann. § 14-54-803 (2026)

Power to require burial outside municipal limits

✓ current as of May 2026
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  1. Cities of the first and second class and incorporated towns shall have the power to prohibit the burial of the dead within their limits.
    1. Where old and abandoned burial grounds which are no longer kept up or used as such are situated within the limits of any such city or incorporated town, it may, by suitable ordinance, require persons having dead buried therein to cause them, within some reasonable time, to be removed and buried beyond the limits of the city or incorporated town.
    2. In the event the bodies are not removed within the time specified in the ordinance of the city or incorporated town, after the ordinance has been published in the mode and manner prescribed by law, then the city or incorporated town may itself have the remains of all such persons as can be found removed and buried, as provided in this section. It may then and not before, by proper ordinance, vacate the cemetery or burial ground and declare that it is not any longer a cemetery exclusively used as such. Thereafter, the property shall become subject to taxation like other property.

History. Acts 1901, No. 102, § 1, p. 168; C. & M. Dig., § 7602; Acts 1929, No. 202, § 1; Pope's Dig., § 9697; A.S.A. 1947, § 19-2324.

Case Notes

Corporate Limits.

Conway, Ark., Ordinance 0-94-54 may be read harmoniously with § 20-17-903; municipalities that had passed a relevant zoning ordinance in accordance with § 14-56-416 could regulate the construction and expansion of cemeteries pursuant to the ordinance, and municipalities that had not done so had only the benefit of §§ 20-17-903, 14-54-802, and this section, such that the city's denial of the landowner's request for a conditional-use-permit precluded the establishment of a cemetery on his property. Brock v. Townsell, 2009 Ark. 224, 309 S.W.3d 179 (2009).

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 2 cases, 2009–2009 · leading case: Brock v. Townsell, 2009 Ark. 224, 309 S.W.3d 179.
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Brock v. Townsell, 2009 Ark. 224, 309 S.W.3d 179. · cites it 32× “Brock filed a response and counter-motion for summary judgment, contending that the enactment of section 20-17-903 repealed by implication Arkansas Code Annotated section 14-54-803 (Repl.1998), which empowers cities of the first class to prohibit the burial of the dead within…”
Riley v. Town of Higginson, 307 S.W.3d 34 (Ark. Ct. App. 2009). · cites it 2× “Appellant now appeals arguing that the trial court erred in deciding that Arkansas Code Annotated section 14-54-803 (Repl.1998), was controlling for the Town of Higginson, an incorporated town, to vacate a street.”
Ark. Code Ann. § 14-54-803(a): 1 case
Brock v. Townsell, 2009 Ark. 224, 309 S.W.3d 179. “Brock filed a response and counter-motion for summary judgment, contending that the enactment of section 20-17-903 repealed by implication Arkansas Code Annotated section 14-54-803 (Repl.1998), which empowers cities of the first class to prohibit the burial of the dead within…”
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