About the legal status of a corpse

Abstract

This paper aims at studying the legal status of a corpse on the basis that, after death, human beings do not turn into a mere object of law because there are rights that endure beyond the end of a physical existence. Additionally, establishing the moment in which death occurs (in the case of people in vegetative state), as well as the possibilities and impossibilities of a corpse’s destiny (including several issues such as wakes, burials and graves), is analyzed. Finally, a critical evaluation of the corpse considered as an object of proprietary law is conducted.