O.C.G.A.

O.C.G.A. § 45-16-45 (2019)

Authority of coroners and medical examiners to disinter bodies

✓ O.C.G.A. — 2019 edition (Public.Resource.Org Release 73)

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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In order to implement this article, coroners are authorized to disinter any body already buried and, like a sheriff, to command the power of the county for that purpose. Medical examiners, other than local medical examiners, may likewise exercise such authority in any case wherein such authority is granted by an order of the judge of the superior court of the county. Such orders may be granted by judges of the superior courts, in their discretion, upon petition of any medical examiner other than a local medical examiner.

History

(Orig. Code 1863, § 567; Code 1868, § 631; Code 1873, § 590; Code 1882, § 590; Penal Code 1895, § 1258; Penal Code 1910, § 1340; Code 1933, § 21-205; Ga. L. 1953, Jan.-Feb. Sess., p. 602, § 21; Ga. L. 1990, p. 1735, § 3.)

Annotations

Cross references. - Penalty for disinterment of body without good grounds, § 31-21-42. JUDICIAL DECISIONS When authority exercisable. - O.C.G.A. § 45-16-45 is not intended to authorize a medical examiner to bring an action seeking disinterment unless the medical examiner is acting in an official

capacity. Wilson v. Wilson, 257 Ga. 584, 361 S.E.2d 381 (1987). Cited in Stephens v. National Gypsum Co., 685 F. Supp. 847 (M.D. Ga. 1988).

RESEARCH REFERENCES Am. Jur. 2d. - 22A Am. Jur. 2d, Dead Bodies, § 50 et seq. C.J.S. - 25A C.J.S., Dead Bodies, §§ 2, 3, 12, 40. ALR. - Removal and reinterment of remains, 21 ALR2d 472.

Power of court to order disinterment and autopsy or examination for evidential purposes in civil case, 21 ALR2d 538. Disinterment in criminal cases, 63 ALR3d 1294.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 3 cases, 1985–1988 · leading case: Charles E. Willis v. Lansome Newsome, Warden, 771 F.2d 1445 (11th Cir. 1985).

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Charles E. Willis v. Lansome Newsome, Warden, 771 F.2d 1445 (11th Cir. 1985). “, O.C.G.A. § 45-16-45. The state district attorney for the Coweta Judicial Circuit is quoted by appellee’s counsel as not being opposed to "any attempted autopsy through state proceedings.”

Stephens v. Nat'l Gypsum Co., 685 F. Supp. 847 (M.D. Ga. 1988). · cites it 2× “Such order should comply with orders prepared pursuant to O.C.G.A. § 45-16-45.”

Wilson v. Wilson, 361 S.E.2d 381 (Ga. 1987). · cites it 4× “Appellants enumerate as error the trial court’s holding that they lack standing under OCGA § 45-16-45, the statute authorizing medical examiners to petition the superior court for an order to disinter a body.”

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.