CPD Course:
Collecting the Dead:
Ownership of and Disputes
Involving the Corpse
and Its Parts

Presented by
Prof. Steven Gallagher,
Professor of Practice in Law,
Associate Dean
(Academic & Student Affairs),
The Faculty of Law,
The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Code:	EVT000000447	Level:	Intermediate

Date:	30 October 2024 (Wednesday) (Amended)	Language:	English

Time:	09:30 - 12:45 (Amended) (Reception starts at 09:00)	Accreditation(s):	LSHK 3.0 CPD Points

Venue:	Option of: (1) Online via Zoom; or (2) Kornerstone Institute 15/F, Hip Shing Hong Centre 55 Des Voeux Road Central Central, Hong Kong	Admission:	Standard Fee: HK$1,980.00 Advanced Booking: HK$1,680.00 (on or before 16 October 2024) Please call 2116 3328 for details and Group Discount

Printable Course Pamphlet and Registration Form Download:		Online Course Registration:

Download this Course Pamphlet and Registration Form in Adobe Acrobat PDF Format	Download this Course Pamphlet and Registration Form in Microsoft Word DOCX Format	Click here to Register this Course Online

Presenter's Profile:

Steven Gallagher was awarded a first class LL.B. He was called to the Bar of England and Wales in 2006. Steven teaches equity and trusts, property law, and digital technology and law. Steven also teaches a course on art, antiquities, cultural heritage and the law. Steven has presented continuing professional development courses for solicitors in Hong Kong on many topics associated with property. Steven’s research interests include equity and the law of trusts, art and cultural heritage law and legal history. He is not a technologist. In 2023 Steven published the first treatise dealing formally and systematically with all the major aspects of, and entitled, Digital Technology and Law.

Course Outline:
This 3-hour seminar will examine the issues that arise in collecting, buying and selling dead human bodies and their parts. The seminar will begin by considering the issues the common law has in considering the human body property. The development of common law actions and statutory protection for the dead human body will be considered. The seminar will discuss the issues that arise in protecting graves and the buried body - these include the restrictions and permissions for exhumation and reburial. The international legal frameworks and guidelines intended to govern the ownership and safeguarding of human remains will be considered. The various issues that arise with the buying and selling of dead body parts for education and entertainment will be considered. The seminar will then conclude by considering some of the many disputes that have arisen over the return of human remains from public and private collections, notable legal and negotiated returns, and the ongoing issues.
Some of the topics considered in this seminar will be:
Public and private collections of the dead; Edward Coke and the “No-Property Rule”; The human body as property - body snatchers, enthusiastic medical students and angry creditors; Statutory developments in protecting the dead human body; Exhumation orders and religious protection (the faculty jurisdiction); International law governing the ownership and safeguarding of human remains; The continued trade in the dead; Estate of Tupana Maori, Warrior; The Case of 17 Tasmanian Aborigines; Saartjie Baartman - The Hottentot Venus; The scramble for the bones of Richard III; The Mummified Monk; Charles Byrne - The Irish Giant; Joseph Merrick - The Elephant Man.