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room not used at the time as a dwelling place, sleeping place, or
workroom, for more than 48 hours, without the sanction in
writing of the Medical Officer of Health, or of a registered
medical practitioner (section 8), which sanction surely would not
be given. Provision should have been made for the removal of
the body, in such circumstances, to the mortuary.
Section 9 is intended to provide for the burial, direct from
a hospital, etc., of any person who may die therein of an infectious
disease. But the body may be removed to a mortuary. The
penalty for an offence under this section, which is made operative
by the certificate of the Medical Officer of Health, or of a
registered medical practitioner, is not to exceed £10. Should the
infected body remain unburied, elsewhere than in a mortuary, or
in a room as above-mentioned (8), for more than 48 hours after
death, without medical sanction; or where any dead body is retained
in a house so as to endanger the health of the inmates,
any Justice may, on the application of the Medical Officer of Health,
order the body to be removed, at the cost of the Local Authority,
to any available mortuary, and direct the same to be buried within
a time limited in the order. A Justice, moreover, may direct the
immediate burial of an infected body, and of any dead body the
immediate burial of which he may consider necessary. Should
the friends or relatives of the deceased in any of the above cases
not undertake to bury the body, and do it within the time
limited by the order of the Justice, it will be the duty of the
Relieving Officer to bury such body, and the Guardians may recover
the expenses incurred, in a summary manner, from any person
legally liable to pay the expenses of the burial (section 10).
Section 12 provides for the detention in a hospital, at the
cost of the Local Authority, by the order of a Justice, of an
infectious person who is in the hospital, and would not, on leaving
the hospital, be provided with lodging or accommodation in which
proper precautions could be taken to prevent him from spreading
the disorder. It is to be regretted that the section did not