Study On The Legal Issues Of The Right To Use Cemeteries In Rural China

The traditional ethics of "the deceased will be properly buried" has to some extent influenced the use of cemeteries in China,especially in the rural areas.Although the reform of funeral and interment has been gradually promoted in recent years,disputes over cemeteries in rural areas continue to emerge.In essence,multiple reasons contribute to this problem,such as the imperfection of relevant legal norms,the ambiguity of rural cemetery-use-right,the differences of judicial identification for the attributes of graves,and the complexity of the problems involving rural cemeteries,etc.,causing difficulties in finding an unified basis to solve the related legal questions.From the perspective of civil law,this study mainly focuses on legal issues concerning rural cemetery-use-right.Firstly,the legislative status of the right to the use of rural cemeteries in China is analyzed.Secondly,the existing problems in practice are analyzed in combination with a large number of judicial cases.lastly,the author identifies several problems leading to the rural cemetery disputes which are difficult to solve:the first one is the lack of relevant laws and regulations,the low legal rank and the conflicts between national and local legislative documents;the second one is the ambiguity of rural cemetery-use-right,making it impossible to adjust and protect the relevant rights in disputes by rules of property right,and also causing uncertainties in its term of use.The third one is that the legality of private cemeteries in rural areas are usually ignored in judicial procedure,while the outcomes are wildly divergent.The root of this problem is that the way of getting rural cemetery-use-right is unclear.After analyzing and referring to the foreign cemetery systems,this paper puts forward some suggestions on improving the property right to rural cemeteries based on the reality of cemetery-use in rural areas and on the existing land system in China.First of all,for the legal status of the right to the use of rural cemeteries,it is necessary to combine the national legislation with the local legislation and coordinate and improve the relationship between different law departments.Secondly,it is important to define the right and term to use rural cemeteries in terms of property rights.Lastly,the way of getting private cemeteries in rural areas has also been defined.For the rural private cemeteries formed before the law,property rights should be fully protected,while for the existing illegal private cemeteries,limited rights to use the cemeteries should be set in the form of easement.And in rural areas where public cemeteries already exist,new private cemeteries should be strictly restricted.