Abstract 

This podcast is concerned with the legal, moral and social status of human remains in a variety of different contexts. We begin with a discussion of interred human remains, the right of sepulchre (or burial), and the criminal offence of violation of sepulchres in Scotland. We then move on to discuss human remains which ought to have been buried but were not. For this part of the podcast, we are joined by Dr Thomas Muinzer, whose research covers burial law and laws relating to human remains, to discuss the case of Charles Byrne. We then move on to discuss the treatment of human remains in hospital or morgue settings, as well as in museums or collections once they have been excavated from the ground. For this part of the podcast we are joined by Professor Vikki Entwistle, to discuss whether a deceased person can be said to suffer harm when their remains are treated disrespectfully.

Death & Law - Interdisciplinary Explorations | School of Law | The University of Aberdeen 

Biographies 

Dr Thomas Muinzer 

Dr Thomas L Muinzer is from Northern Ireland, and undertook his qualifying law degree and other legal qualifications at Queen's University Belfast. In 2020 he joined the Law School at the University of Aberdeen as Senior Lecturer in Energy Transition Law. Dr Muinzer’s academic research focuses most pointedly on the Low Carbon Transition, with particular reference to climate law and governance and issues around decarbonisation of the energy sector.  He has written the first monograph on the world’s first example of national framework climate legislation, the UK’s pioneering Climate Change Act:  Climate and Energy Governance for the UK Low Carbon Transition: The Climate Change Act 2008 (Palgrave: UK, 2018).  He also occasionally endeavours to explore somewhat obscure or frequently neglected spheres of law in his work (to date, most particularly burial law, broader laws relating to the ‘dead body’/corpse, national monuments law, and cultural heritage).      

Link to Profile: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/people/thomas.muinzer

Professor Vikki Entwistle 

Professor Vikki Entwistle is Professor of Health Services Research and Philosophy, with academic homes in both the Aberdeen Centre for Evaluation within the Institute of Applied Health Sciences on the University’s Foresterhill campus and Philosophy (School of Divinity, History, Philosophy & Art History) on the Old Aberdeen campus. She uses philosophy and social research to understand and address concerns about quality, ethics and social justice in health care, public health and (more recently) funeral provision and work with the dead and bereaved. She is particularly interested in what are sometimes called person-centred approaches to service provision - the humanity in health and social care provision. She teaches on the Death! course at the University of Aberdeen, which explores death in human society from the earliest formal burials to diverse modern practices worldwide, incorporating archaeological studies of skeletons and mortuary sites as well as legal, anthropological and forensic perspectives. 

Link to Profile: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/people/vikki.entwistle

Dr Jonathan Ainslie 

Dr Jonathan Ainslie has been a Lecturer in Private Law at the University of Aberdeen since February 2022. He initially joined the School of Law as a Teaching Fellow in September 2021. He holds an LLB Hons (in law and politics), LLM (in comparative and European private law) and PhD (in legal history), all from the University of Edinburgh. He is an Advance HE Associate Fellow, a member of the council of the Stair Society and an associate member of the Society of Advocates in Aberdeen. Recent published articles have concerned duties of good faith in contract and the protection of privacy interests in delict. Current research includes work on the remedy of solatium in Scots law, which is available for pain, suffering and injury to emotions, as well as the boundary between persons and things in Scots private law. Jonathan teaches across a wide range of private law subjects. 

Link to Profile: https://www.abdn.ac.uk/people/jonathan.ainslie

Additional Resources: 

·       J. Brown, “Res Religiosae and the Roman Roots of the Crime of Violation of Sepulchres” (2018) 22(3) Edinburgh Law Review 347-367

·       T. Muinzer, “A Grave Situation: An Examination of the Legal Issues Raised by the Life and Death of Charles Byrne, the ‘Irish Giant’” (2013) 20 International Journal of Cultural Property 23-48. 

·       M. Lowth, “Charles Byrne, Last Victim of the Bodysnatchers; the Legal Case for Burial” (2021) 29(2) Medical Law Review 252–283. 

·       J. Ainslie, “Intrusion of Privacy and the Actio Iniuriarum”, 2023(3-4) Juridical Review 139-159. 

·       Scottish Funeral Director Code of Practice: https://www.gov.scot/publications/funeral-director-code-practice-2/pages/5/