CONSOLIDATED ACTS OF SAMOA 2010

BURIALS ORDINANCE 1961

Arrangement of Provisions

1. Short title
2. Interpretation

CEMETRIES

3. Provision of cemeteries
4. Approval of cemetery sites and registration
5. Bodes to be buried in cemetery
6. Cemeteries to be enclosed and kept in repair
7. Additional Government cemeteries

GRAVES AND BURIALS

8. Graves
9. Responsibilities for proper burial and notice

DISINTERMENT

10 Removal of body
11. Offences
12. Regulation
13. Repeal and savings
Schedule

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THE BURIALS ORDINANCE 1961
1961 No.4

An Ordinance to consolidate and amend the law relating to cemeteries and the burial of human remains

[28 September 1961]
[Commencement date: 28 September 1961]

1. Short title - This Ordinance may be cited as the Burials Ordinance 1961.

2. Interpretation - In this Ordinance, if not inconsistent with the context:

"Burials" includes cremations.

"Cemetery" means any place set apart for the burial of the dead;

"Chief Executive Officer" means the Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Health;

"Minister" means the Minister of Health;

"Registered cemetery" means a cemetery or that part of a cemetery in a village:

(a) In respect of which an approval has been given by the Chief Executive Officer and is still in force; and

(b) Which has been registered as provided in section 4(4).

CEMETERIES

3. Provision of cemeteries - (1) It shall be the duty of the alii and faipule of every village to ensure that there is at all times an adequate registered cemetery or cemeteries available for that village, to receive the bodies of such inhabitants of the village as may die from time to time.

(2) In every village where no adequate registered cemetery or cemeteries are available, such cemetery or cemeteries shall be provided within one year after the coming into force of this Ordinance.

4. Approval of cemetery sites and registration - (1) Every cemetery site shall be approved by the Chief Executive Officer, and shall be fixed by survey so that it may be registered on the Village Plans in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

(2) The Chief Executive Officer may at any time order that there shall be no further burials in any existing cemetery site if in his or her opinion the burying of further bodies in such site would be dangerous to health, or may impose conditions on any further burials in such cemetery. If as a result of any such order any village shall be deprived of adequate cemetery accommodation alternative registered cemetery accommodation shall be provided.

(3) Any person who buries or is party to the burying of a body contrary to any order of the Chief Executive Officer, or to any condition imposed by the Chief Executive Officer, commits an offence under this Ordinance.

(4) It shall be the duty of the Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment immediately it has been approved, to fix by survey and place on the appropriate plans, every village cemetery and such cemetery shall thereafter, subject to any order under the last preceding subsection, be deemed to be a registered cemetery.

5. Bodies to be buried in cemetery - (1) Every inhabitant of a village who dies in Samoa after a cemetery has been registered for that village shall be buried either in a registered cemetery or in a Government cemetery:

PROVIDED THAT until a registered cemetery is available for the inhabitants of any village as provided in the last 2 preceding sections, an inhabitant of that village may be buried in accordance with the provisions of the enactments repealed by this Ordinance as though such enactment were still in force.

(2) Every person who is not an inhabitant of a village who dies in Samoa after the coming into force of this Ordinance shall be buried either in a Government cemetery or in a registered village cemetery.

(3) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this section or in section 9 the Minister may, by writing under his or her hand, permit the body of any person to be disposed of in a manner not provided in this section.

6. Cemeteries to be enclosed and kept in repair - Every part of a cemetery shall be enclosed by walls or other fences sufficient to prevent animals having access to such cemetery:

PROVIDED THAT nothing in this section shall apply to any special burial ground in which by custom the members of any particular family are buried.

7. Additional Government cemeteries - The Minister may from time to time acquire by purchase out of money appropriated by the Legislative Assembly for the purpose, such suitable site or sites as may be required for Government cemeteries.

GRAVES AND BURIALS

8. Graves - (1) Every grave shall be at least 4 feet in depth, and shall be of sufficient length and width to allow for decent burial.

(2) Graves may be laid with sides adjacent to each other, but no row of graves shall be longer than 30 feet, and a pathway of at least 3 feet wide shall surround each grave or row of graves.

9. Responsibility for proper burial and notice - (1) The Officiating Pastor and the Pulenu'u in the case of a burial, in a village cemetery shall be responsible for proper burials in that cemetery.

(2) In the case of a burial in a Government cemetery, the Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment may require the officiating minister, the person burying the body, or some other person willing to act to be responsible for the burial.

(3) Every person responsible for a burial shall ensure that it is completed within 24 hours of death.

(4) Every person responsible for a burial shall, within 3 days of such burial forward to the Registrar appointed under the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 2002 notice of such burial, specifying the date of burial, the name of the person buried, and the place of burial:

PROVIDED THAT where 2 or more persons are responsible for a burial and one of them forwards such notice, no other person shall be required to carry out any of the requirements of this subsection in respect of that burial.

DISINTERNMENT

10. Removal of body - (1) It shall not be lawful to remove from its burial place any body, or the remains of any body buried in any cemetery, burial ground, or other place of burial without permission in writing under the hand of the Minister and with such precautions as the Minister may prescribe as the condition of such permission in writing:

PROVIDED THAT in the absence of the Minister, permission in writing may be given by the Minister of Police, Prisons and Fire Service with such precautions as may be prescribed by the Chief Executive Officer.

(2) Any person who acts in contravention of this section commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding 5 penalty units or to imprisonment for 3 months.

11. Offences - Every person who acts in contravention of any provision of this Ordinance for which no other penalty is provided commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding 2 penalty units, and in the case of a continuing offence to a further fine not exceeding 1 penalty for every day during which the offence continues.

12. Regulations - (1) The Head of State, acting by and with the advice of Cabinet, may from time to time make all such regulations as may in the Head of State's opinion be necessary or expedient for giving full effect to the provisions of this Ordinance and for the due administration thereof.

(2) Without limiting the general power conferred by subsection (1), it is hereby declared that regulations may be made under this section for all or any of the following purposes:

(a) Prescribing the maximum fees which may be charged for a grave in any Government cemetery;

(b) Prescribing the procedure to be followed and the precautions to be taken on the disinterment of a body;

(c) Prescribing any special procedure or precautions to be taken when any person dies who has any infectious or contagious disease.

(3) It shall be the responsibility of the Minister to lay any regulations made under this section before the Legislative Assembly within 28 days of the making thereof if the Assembly is in session, or if not, to lay them before the Assembly within 28 days after the commencement of the next ensuing session.

13. Repeals and savings - (1) The enactments specified in the Schedule are hereby repealed.

(2) As from the coming into force of this Ordinance, regulations 9 and 10 of the Samoa Village Regulations 1938 (NZ) shall cease to be part of the law of Samoa.

(3) Notwithstanding the repeals of the enactments specified in the Schedule to this Ordinance, all provisions of such enactments which relate to burials otherwise than in approved and registered village cemeteries shall ensure in respect of burials otherwise than in registered cemeteries and Government cemeteries until the provision of a registered village cemetery.

Section 13

SCHEDULE

No.3 -1931: The General Laws Ordinance 1931, section 10.
 The Western Samoa Gazette, 29 December 1931, page 387.
 In the Gazette page reference in this Schedule "387" has been substituted for "288" pursuant to s.3 (f) of the Reprint of Statutes Act 1972.

REVISION NOTES 2008

This law has been generally edited as provided for by section 5 of the Revision and Publication of Laws Act 2008. The following general revisions have been made –

(a) References to Western Samoa have been amended to Samoa in accordance with an amendment to the Constitution of Samoa in 1997.

(b) The fines have been amended and are stated as penalty units as provided for by the Fines (Review and Amendment) Act 1998.

(c) All references to the male gender have been made gender neutral.

(d) Amendments have been made to conform to modern drafting styles and to use modern language as applied in the laws of Samoa.

(e) Amendments have been made to up-date references to offices, officers and statutes.

(f) Other minor editing has been done in accordance with the lawful powers of the Attorney General.

The following amendment has been made to specific sections of the Act to incorporate amendments made by Act of Parliament passed since the publication of the Western Samoa Statutes Reprint 1978-1996 –

The fines in sections 10(2) and 11 have been amended in accordance with Schedule 1 of the Fines (Review and Amendment) Act 1998.

Section 2 A new definition of "Burial" was inserted by the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 2002.

Section 9 The reference to the "Registrar General" was replaced with "the Registrar appointed under the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 2002" by the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 2002

This law has been consolidated and revised by the Attorney General under the authority of the Revision and Publication of Laws Act 2008 and is an official version of this Act as at 31 December 2007. It is an offence to publish this Act without approval or to make any unauthorised change to an electronic version of this Act.

Revised and consolidated by Graham Bruce Powell
Under the supervision of Teleiai Lalotoa Sinaalamaimaleula Mulitalo (Parliamentary Counsel)

REVISION NOTES 2008 No. 2

Section 4 (general powers of the Attorney General) of the Revision and Publication of Laws Act 2008 is used to insert the commencement date. By virtue of section 8 of the Acts Interpretation Act 1974, in the absence of an expressed commencement date, the date of assent is the commencement date. 

There were no amendments made to this law since the publication of the Consolidated and Revised Statutes of Samoa 2007.

This law has been consolidated and revised by the Attorney General under the authority of the Revision and Publication of Laws Act 2008 and is an official version of this Act as at 31 December 2008. It is an offence to publish this Act without approval or to make any unauthorised change to an electronic version of this Act.

Revised and consolidated by the Legislative Drafting Division under the supervision of Teleiai Lalotoa Sinaalamaimaleula Mulitalo (Parliamentary Counsel)

REVISION NOTES 2009

There were no amendments made to this law since the publication of the Consolidated and Revised Statutes of Samoa 2007.

This law has been consolidated and revised by the Attorney General under the authority of the Revision and Publication of Laws Act 2008 and is an official version of this Act as at 31 December 2009. It is an offence to publish this Act without approval or to make any unauthorised change to an electronic version of this Act.

Revised and consolidated by the Legislative Drafting Division under the supervision of Papalii Malietau Malietoa (Parliamentary Counsel).

REVISION NOTES 2010

There were no amendments made to this law since the publication of the Consolidated and Revised Statutes of Samoa 2007.

This law has been revised by the Attorney General under the authority of the Revision and Publication of Laws Act 2008 and is an official version of this Act as at 31 December 2010. It is an offence to publish this Act without approval or to make any unauthorised change to an electronic version of this Act.

Revised by the Legislative Drafting Division under the supervision of Papalii Malietau Malietoa (Parliamentary Counsel).

The Burials Ordinance 1961 is administered in the Ministry of Health.