  ADDOLORATA CEMETERY _g CAP. 18.             1
CHAPTER 18
ADDOLORATA CEMETERY ORDINANCE *  
To make certain provisions respecting the Cemetery of the Addolorata.
(26th July, 1870) †
Enacted by ORDINANCE II of 1870, as amended by Ordinances: V of
1876, XIX of 1921; Legal Notice 4 of 1963; and Acts: XI of 1977 and XIII
of 1983.
Short title.
Ordinance.
Corpses conveyed 
to cemetery for 
burial without 
licence.
2. Every corpse conveyed to the Santa Maria Addolorata
Cemetery for burial without the licence of the Police, shall be
placed in the room appointed for the purpose, and shall, unless
otherwise ordered by the Police or by a court of justice, be kept
under the care of the chaplain or other person employed in the
cemetery, until the said licence be obtained.
3 . Such licence shall contain the following particulars:
( a ) the date of the licence;
( b ) the name, surname, profession, trade or other status,
and the age, place of birth, and that of the last abode of
the deceased;
( c ) the name and surname of each of the parents of the
deceased, and whether they are living or dead;
( d ) the name and surname of the husband or wife of the
deceased, and whether the deceased was married or
was a widower or a widow;
( e ) the hour, the day, the month, and the year when, and
the place where, the deceased died;
( f ) the cause of the death;
( g ) whether the corpse is to be buried in a common or in a
private grave, with an indication, in the latter case, of
the number of the grave, and the division, section, and
compartment of the cemetery where such grave is
situated, and of the title of the deceased to be buried in
it:
Provided that, before issuing the said licence, the Police may ask
the applicant to produce a written statement showing such title.
Powers of officer 
issuing licence.  
Cap. 16.
4. For the purpose of collecting or ascertaining the particulars
mentioned in the last preceding section, the officer charged with
the duty of giving out the licence, shall have the same powers as are
under section 302 of the Civil Code vested in the officer charged
with the duty of drawing up acts of death.
* See  also the Burials Ordinance (Chapter 17) and Part VI of the Code of Police Laws
(Chapter 10).
† See  Proclamation No. V of the 26th of July, 1870.
    2               CAP. 18. _h   ADDOLORATA CEMETERY  
Where officer fails 
to obtain 
satisfactory 
information as to 
any particular.
5. If, after a careful inquiry, the officer charged with the duty
of giving out the licence, fails to obtain satisfactory information as
to any of the particulars mentioned in section 3, he shall state in the
proper place in the said licence, that such particular is not known to
him:
Provided that in such case he shall, within twenty-four hours
from the drawing up of the act of death, transmit a copy of such act
to the officer of the cemetery who shall have received the licence
aforesaid.
Right of sepulture. 6.   Respecting the rights of a deceased over a private grave,
the following provisions shall, in default of proof to the contrary,
be observed:
Cap. 17.
( a ) all descendants of the person to whom a grave in a
church or chapel was granted and for which, according
to the provisions of the Burials Ordinance, another
grave in the cemetery has been substituted, shall be
presumed to possess an equal right to be buried in the
latter;
( b ) every person is presumed to possess the right to be
buried in the grave which has been substituted for
another existing in a church or chapel, and in which
any one of his blood relations, as of his own right, was
buried;
( c ) a wife may be buried in the grave of her family, or in
that of her husband or of his family.
Graves substituted 
for others 
unnumbered. 
Amended by: 
XIX.1921.3.
7. A person having a right over a private grave which was
substituted for another existing in a church or chapel, but without
indication of the number of the latter, shall be buried in one of the
graves situated in the western division, section Z, compartment   A ,
of the said cemetery, and marked with numbers 1 to 30, or in one of
the graves appointed by the Superintendent of Public Health for
such purpose.
Certificate proving 
title. 
Amended by: 
V.1876.1.
8. (1) A certificate from the parish priest or other superior of
a church or chapel declaring the deceased to be a descendant of a
person to whom a particular grave had been granted in that church
or chapel, or a blood relation of a person buried in that church or
chapel, and in which the number of such grave is indicated, or in
which it is stated that such grave is not numbered, or, as the case
may be, that it is not certain in which particular grave the said
relation was buried, shall be deemed sufficient for the Police to
indicate in the licence, according to the provisions of the foregoing
sections, the grave in the cemetery in which the deceased is to be
buried.
Signing of 
certificate.
(2) The certificate mentioned in subsection (1) of this section
shall not have the required effect as regards the consanguinity of
the deceased person with the person to whom a grave had been
granted, or who was buried in a church or chapel, unless such
certificate is signed or countersigned by a parish priest or other
ecclesiastic having the cure of souls.
  ADDOLORATA CEMETERY _g CAP. 18.             3
Default of proof of 
title.  
Amended by: 
XIX.1921.2, 3; 
XIII.1983.5.
9. In default of the certificate aforesaid, or of other proofs of
the right over a private grave, the deceased shall be buried in one of
the common graves:
Provided that in such case, it shall be lawful for any person,
without the necessity of declaring his own interest, and upon
depositing, in the office of the said Superintendent of Public
Health, the sum of seven liri (representing the cost of the grave and
the notarial and other expenses in connection with the acquisition
thereof), to demand that the corpse be provisionally buried in a
particular grave not yet granted to others; and if, within two years
from the day of burial, it shall, at the suit of the said person, be
declared by the court that the deceased had a right to be buried in a
private grave, the corpse shall, upon the demand and at the expense
of the said person, be, at the proper time, removed to such grave.
Withdrawal of 
deposit.  
Amended by: 
XIX.1921.3.
10. Upon the removal of the corpse as provided in the last
preceding section, the depositor may withdraw from the
Superintendent of Public Health the sum as above deposited.
When deposit 
lapses. 
Amended by: 
XIX.1921.3.
11.  Where the declaration of the court as to the right of the
deceased over a private grave as provided in section 9 is not
obtained within the time established in that section, or, where such
declaration having been obtained, the corpse is not removed to such
grave within one month from the day of the said declaration, or, in
case such declaration is obtained before the expiration of one year
from the day of the burial, within one month from the date of a
notification by the Superintendent of Public Health, the sum
deposited shall be forfeited in favour of the Government, as
compensation for the grave occupied as provided in the said
section:
Provided that in such case, the grave shall be considered as if it
had been acquired by the person making the deposit, who shall
have a right to demand that the requisite act of grant of the same
grave be made.
Removal of 
corpses from place 
of deposit to 
respective graves.  
Amended by: 
XIX.1921.3.  
Cap. 17.
12. Where, for the reason stated in subsection (2) of section 12
of the Burials Ordinance, a corpse has been put in deposit in the
place appointed by the Government for the purpose, the
Superintendent of Public Health, when the time has come for the
corpse to be removed to its own grave, shall give notice thereof to
any of the relations or heirs of the deceased, at his choice; and if
the relation or heir fails to effect the removal of the corpse within
one month from the date of such notice, it shall be lawful for the
Superintendent of Public Health to order its removal at the expense
of the Government, and the Superintendent of Public Health shall
claim reimbursement of such expense from the person to whom the
notice aforesaid has been addressed, saving always the right of the
latter to have the amount refunded to him by the heirs of the
deceased, or, if he himself be one of the heirs, by his co-heirs.
Choice of grave by 
person having 
rights over two or 
more graves.
13. If a person possesses rights over two or more private
graves, the selection of the grave in which he desires to be buried
may be made even orally; and on his death, such selection shall be
deemed to be proved even by the mere oral declaration of the
    4               CAP. 18. _h   ADDOLORATA CEMETERY  
husband or wife, the parent, the son or daughter, or any other near
relation of the deceased, or by a similar declaration made by the
ecclesiastic or physician by whom the person aforesaid shall have
been assisted during his last illness.
Disposing of right 
of sepulture in a 
particular grave.
14. A person having a right of sepulture in a particular grave,
may demand that any disposition made by him respecting the said
right, whether such disposition is to the effect that no other corpse
of any other person should be buried in that grave, or that his right
should, after his death, pass to the persons appointed by him, be
registered in the books kept in the cemetery or in any other public
office, in which private graves are registered.
Exceptions. 15. (1) Any disposition as provided in the last preceding
section shall have no effect unless it be made by public deed.
(2) It shall neither have effect, if, the grave being possessed by
two or more persons, it is not made by all of such persons.
In the absence of 
special provision, 
right of sepulture 
to pass, on death of 
owner, to his blood 
relations.
16. In default of any other special provision, the right of
sepulture in a particular grave, passes, on the death of the person
having that right, to his blood relations in the order in which they
are called by law to succeed  ab intestato,  notwithstanding that they
be not his heirs.
Power of Minister 
responsible for 
public health to 
make  regulations.  
Amended by: 
L.N. 4 of 1963; 
XI.1977.2.  
Cap. 17.
17. The Minister responsible for public health may make
regulations respecting the time and manner of conveying corpses to
the cemetery, respecting the burial of corpses, and for the good
order in such cemetery, provided that nothing in such regulations
contained shall be contrary to the provisions contained in this
Ordinance or in the Burials Ordinance.
Penalties. 
Amended by: 
XI.1977.2; 
XIII.1983.5. 
Cap. 9.
18. (1) Any person who shall infringe any regulation made
under the last preceding section, shall be liable, on conviction, to
the punishments established in the Criminal Code for
contraventions.
(2) Where the offence is committed in the cemetery by a person
under fourteen years of age, who shall have entered the cemetery
under the care of another person over eighteen years of age, it shall
be lawful for the court, in respect of such offence, to sentence the
latter to a fine ( ammenda )   not exceeding one lira.
(3) Any person who signs or produces to the Police any
statement required under the provision of the proviso to paragraph
( g ) of section 3 knowing that such statement is false or that it
contains a false declaration shall be liable, on conviction, to a fine
( multa ) not exceeding two hundred liri or to imprisonment for a
term not exceeding six months, or to both such fine and
imprisonment.
