O.C.G.A.
O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 45-16-31 (2019)

Authorization of removal of body for convenience of examination; investigation of premises before removal

✓ O.C.G.A. (archive.org 2024 item): print volumes of 2004-2024, per-volume vintage; older volumes partly replaced by 2019 Release 73 text; no 2025 or 2026 Acts
Code text and O.C.G.A. statutory annotations on this page reflect the 2019 Official Code of Georgia Annotated (Public.Resource.Org Release 73, 2019-08-21; public domain per Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). The Syfert case-law annotations in Notes of Decisions, below, are current.
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When the deceased body lies in a place inconvenient for holding a medical examiner's inquiry, the medical examiner or coroner shall be allowed to remove the body to the autopsy room of the nearest public hospital or morgue. If neither the coroner nor the medical examiner is immediately available, the peace officer may assume the authority to have the body moved to such facility. When such facility is not reasonably available, the body may be removed to such other suitable place as may be designated by the coroner or the medical examiner or by the peace officer in charge in the absence of the coroner or medical examiner. If the peace officer in charge is present, no such body shall be removed until photographs of the body and surrounding premises have been made and a thorough investigation of the premises has been made by the proper investigating authorities.

History

(Laws 1850, Cobb's 1851 Digest, p. 540; Ga. L. 1862-63, p. 166, § 2; Code 1868, § 4039; Code 1873, § 4110; Code 1882, § 4110; Penal Code 1895, § 1269; Penal Code 1910, § 1351; Code 1933, § 21-206; Ga. L. 1953, Jan.-Feb. Sess., p. 602, § 7; Ga. L. 1960, p. 1009, § 5; Ga. L. 1985, p. 843, § 9; Ga. L. 1990, p. 1735, § 3.)

Annotations

History of section. - It appears that § 4110, which would be in the history of this section, was inadvertently left out of the 1882 Code.

Law reviews. - For annual survey on local government law, see 68 Mercer L. Rev. 199 (2016).

OPINIONS OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

Unauthorized removal of body. - The removal of a body to a funeral home without the direction of the peace officer, coroner, or medical examiner is a violation of the law and a misdemeanor. 1962 Op. Att'y Gen. p. 377.

RESEARCH REFERENCES

Am. Jur. 2d. - 18 Am. Jur. 2d, Coroners or Medical Examiners, § 7 et seq. 22A Am. Jur. 2d, Dead Bodies, § 41 et seq.

C.J.S. - 18 C.J.S., Coroners, § 7et seq. 25A C.J.S., Dead Bodies, §§ 2, 3, 5.

ALR. - Constitutionality of statute or ordinance requiring, or permitting, removal of bodies from cemeteries, 71 A.L.R. 1040.

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 1 case, 2015–2015 · leading case: Crosby v. Johnson, 779 S.E.2d 446 (Ga. Ct. App. 2015).
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Crosby v. Johnson, 779 S.E.2d 446 (Ga. Ct. App. 2015). · cites it 10× “16 Here, the plaintiffs argue, and the trial court held, that OCGA § 45-16-31 creates a ministerial duty on the part of coroners with respect to transport of deceased bodies.”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.