2022 Delaware Code
Title 11 - Crimes and Criminal Procedure
Chapter 5. SPECIFIC OFFENSES
Subchapter VII. Offenses Against Public Health, Order and Decency
§ 1333. Trading in human remains and Associated Funerary Objects.
(a) As used in this section:
(1) “Associated funerary objects” means an item of human manufacture or use that is intentionally placed with human remains at the time of interment in a burial site or later as a part of a death rite or ceremony of a culture, religion or group. “Associated funerary object” includes any gravestone, monument, tomb or other structure in or directly associated with a burial site.
(b) A person is guilty of trading in human remains and associated funerary objects when the person knowingly sells, buys or transports for sale or profit, or offers to buy, sell or transport for sale or profit, within this State, any unlawfully removed human remains or any associated funerary objects.
(c) The provisions of this section shall not apply to:
(1) Any person acting in the course of medical, archaeological, educational or scientific study authorized by an accredited educational institution or governmental entity; or
(2) A licensed mortician or other professional who transports human remains in the course of carrying out the individual's professional duties and responsibilities.
(d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to interfere with the normal operation and maintenance of a public or private cemetery including correction of improper burial siting, and, with the consent of any person who would qualify as an heir of the deceased, moving the remains within a public or private cemetery.
Trading in human remains and associated funerary objects is a class B misdemeanor.
70 Del. Laws, c. 50, § 1;
