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Sec. 655. FRATERNAL ASSOCIATIONS, AND SO FORTH.-Nothing herein contained shall be held to interfere with or abridge the rights of, or apply to, any fraternal beneficial societies, orders, or associations under the act of Congress entitled "An act regulating fraternal beneficial associations in the District of Columbia," approved March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-seven, the provisions of which are embodied in subchapter twelve of this chapter, except that the superintendent of insurance herein provided for shall be substituted for and perform all the duties in said act of Congress assigned to the assessor of the District of Columbia: Provided, That any insurance company or agent licensed to do business in the District of Columbia may employ solicitors, and the license fee to be paid for each solicitor so employed shall be five dollars per year, payable in the month of March, and such license shall have printed on its face the words "Insurance solicitor's license," and shall contain the name of the company for which such solicitor is employed, and no other: Provided, That nothing herein contained shall be held to prevent any life or fire insurance company from carrying on the business commonly known as industrial insurance, and the license fee to be paid for solicitors for such industrial insurance shall be two dollars for every such solicitor, to be paid in the month of March in each year. Such license certificate shall have conspicuously printed on its face "Industrial insurance license," and shall also express upon its face the name of the company for which such solicitor is employed; and any certificate of license granted under this section or the next preceding section may be assigned, upon application to the superintendent of insurance, by canceling the old certificate and issuing a new one of like tenor to the assignee for the unexpired term, for which assignment a fee of twenty-five cents shall be paid to the collector of taxes; and any person who shall act as solicitor for any such insurance company, without having first procured such license therefor, or shall solicit for any company other than the one named in such license, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, on conviction thereof in the police court of said District, be punished by a fine of not less than ten dollars nor more than fifty dollars, and in default of payment of such fine by imprisonment in the jail of said District for a term of not. less than ten days nor more than thirty days, at the discretion of the court: Provided, That nothing in this subchapter shall be held to prevent any life insurance company organized in the District of Columbia under special act of Congress, but which has discontinued writing new insurance, from collecting premiums or dues upon any undetermined policies under which such company has liabilities, provided such company has sufficient assets and reserves to safely meet such liabilities.

Sec. 656. WAGERING POLICIES.- -No insurance shall be made by any person or persons, bodies politic or corporate, on any ship or ships, or on any goods, merchandise, or effects laden or to be laden on board of any ship or ships, interest or no interest, or without further proof of interest than the policy, or by way of gaming or wagering, or without benefit of salvage to the insurer; and every such insurance shall be null and void to all intents and purposes.

Sec. 657. COPY OF APPLICATION TO BE DELIVERED WITH POLICY. Each life insurance company, benefit order and association doing a life insurance business in the District of Columbia shall deliver with each policy issued by it a copy of the application made by the insured

so that the whole contract may appear in said application and policy, in default of which no defense shall be allowed to such policy on account of anything contained in, or omitted from, such application.Act of June 30, 1902.

[Sec. 657. COPY OF APPLICATION TO BE ATTACHED TO POLICY.-Each life insurance company doing business in the District of Columbia shall attach to each policy issued by such company a copy of the application made by the insured, so that the whole contract may appear in said application and policy.

Subchapter VI.—CEMETERY ASSOCIATIONS.

Sec. 658. How INCORPORATED.- -When five or more persons shall associate themselves together for the purpose of forming a cemetery association in the District, such persons shall have the power to adopt a corporate name, and by that name shall be known as a body corporate, and by that name shall have perpetual succession and be invested with all powers, rights, privileges, liabilities, and immunities incident to corporations, and may have a common seal, and may alter or change the same at their pleasure.

Sec. 659. POWERS.-Such persons so associated shall have power to acquire by gift, grant, or purchase any lot or lots of land not exceeding fifty acres, and lay out the same for a burial place for the dead, with convenient aisles, and to sell the same for such purpose and for no other purposes, reserving a sufficient portion thereof for the burial of the stranger and indigent.

Sec. 660. They shall cause the land designed as a burial ground to be surveyed and platted, and a plat of the ground so surveyed shall be recorded in the office of the surveyor of the District. Each lot shall be duly numbered by the surveyor and such number shall be marked on the plat and recorded.

Sec. 661. Such association shall have power to inclose and ornament their burial ground, to build and erect a hearse house, and keep the same in proper repair; to purchase a hearse or hearses, and to do all other necessary acts to the end that all the appliances, conveniences, and benefits of a public and private cemetery may be obtained.

Sec. 662. The proceeds arising from the sale of lots, after deducting all expenses of purchasing and laying out the same, shall be applied, appropriated, and used in improving and ornamenting the burial ground, or for other purposes named in this subchapter.

Sec. 663. OFFICERS.-The officers of any such corporation shall be a president, a treasurer (who shall act as a secretary), and not less than three directors, who shall be severally chosen annually by ballot, and shall hold office until their successors are chosen. Any neglect to choose officers on the day fixed upon for that purpose shall not operate as a forfeiture of the act of incorporation, in accordance with the provisions of this subchapter.

Sec. 664. The first election of officers by the persons associating, according to and for the purpose specified in section six hundred and fifty-eight, shall be at the time and place designated and agreed upon by a majority of the persons so associating themselves together, and no other than such persons shall vote at such election.

Sec. 665. VOTERS.-At each subsequent election of officers of any such corporation the owner of a lot in said burial ground shall be

entitled to one vote in the election of officers of the corporation and no more, and shall, by virtue of such membership, be a member of the corporation.

Sec. 666. BY-LAWS.-Each corporation shall have power to establish and change by-laws and prescribe rules and regulations for its government and the duties of its officers and the management of its property.

Sec. 667. EXEMPTION FROM TAXATION.-The property of any such corporation, its grounds, lots, and appliances, shall be exempt from taxation and shall not be liable to sale on execution.

Sec. 668. DEDICATION.-Any person desiring to dedicate any lot of land, not exceeding five acres, as a burial place for the interment of the dead for the use of any society, association, or neighborhood may, by deed duly executed and recorded, convey such land to the District of Columbia, by the corporate name of said District of Columbia, specifying in such deed the society, association, or neighborhood for the use of which the dedication is desired to be made, and thereby (provided such conveyance shall be accepted by the Commissioners of the District of Columbia) vest the title to such land in perpetuity, for the uses stated in the deed, and such land shall be thereafter exempt from taxes for all purposes whatever.

Sec. 669. GRANTS AND BEQUESTS FOR CARE OF LOTS.-It shall be lawful for such association to take and hold any grant, donation, or bequest upon trust to apply the income thereof, under the direction of the board of managers, for the embellishment, preservation, renewal, or repair of any tomb, monument, gravestone, or other structure, fence, railing, or other inclosure in or around any cemetery lot, or for the planting and cultivation of any trees, shrubs, flowers, or plants in or around any cemetery lot, according to the terms of such grant, donation, or bequest; and the supreme court of the District of Columbia shall have full power and jurisdiction to compel the due performance of such trusts, or any of them, upon a bill filed by the proprietor of any lot in such cemetery for that purpose.

Sec. 670. DISTANCE FROM CITY AND FROM DWELLINGS.-No person or persons or cemetery association shall lay out any new cemetery, or part of any cemetery, within the city of Washington, in the District of Columbia, nor in said District, within one mile and a half from the boundaries of said city; no person or cemetery association shall, in said District, lay out any cemetery, or part of any cemetery, within less than two hundred yards of any dwelling house, except with the written consent of the owner, lessee, and occupant of such house, nor without a permit to do so from the Commissioners of said District.

Sec. 671. INCLOSURES.-It shall be the duty of the owner or owners of any cemetery or cemeteries in said District to inclose such cemetery or cemeteries with good and sufficient walls or fences to prevent entrance thereto or exit therefrom except by gates provided for that purpose. Such cemetery or cemeteries shall, if required by the Commissioners of said District, be underdrained to such a depth as will prevent water remaining in any grave or vault therein.

Sec. 672. LOTS AND PLATS.-It shall be the duty of the owner or owners of any cemetery or cemeteries in said District to divide the area to be used for graves into lots of reasonable size, to be perma

nently designated by conspicuous marks, so that the position of each may be readily determined, each lot to be duly numbered. A plat of such cemetery showing the area so divided, the division into lots, and the number of each such lot shall be filed in the office of the surveyor of said District; the grave spaces hereafter laid out for the burial of persons above ten years of age to be at least eight feet by three feet, and those for the burial of children under ten years of age at least six feet by two feet, or, if preferred by said owner or owners, one-half the measurement of the adult grave space, namely, four feet by three feet.

Sec. 673. REGISTER.-It shall be the duty of the owner or owners of any cemetery or cemeteries in said District to cause to be kept in the office of the superintendent or person in charge of such cemetery or cemeteries a register showing the number of each lot, the name, age, cause of death, and date of burial of each person or persons buried in any such lot or grave space, and the number of the burial permit authorizing such burial. In cases of disinterment said register shall show the date of such disinterment and the number of the official permit therefor opposite the name of the person whose remains are disinterred. Such register shall be at all times open to inspection by duly authorized representatives of the health department and of the police department of said District.

Sec. 674. SUPERINTENDENT TO REGISTER AT HEALTH DEPARTMENT. It shall be the duty of the superintendent or person in charge of any cemetery or other place for the disposal of dead bodies of human beings in the District of Columbia to register his or her name at the office of the health department of said District, giving full name, residence, and place of business, and in case of removal from one place to another in said District to make change in such register accordingly.

Sec. 675. REMOVAL OF DEAD BODIES. -No dead body of any human being or any part of such body shall, in said District, be removed from place to place, interred, disinterred, or in any manner disposed of without a permit for such removal, interment, disinterment, or disposal granted by the health officer of said District, nor otherwise than in accordance with the terms of said permit; permits for the removal, interment, or disposal to be issued upon the presentation of a proper death certificate, signed by a physician registered at the health department of said District, who has attended the deceased during his or her last illness, or by the coroner of said District or his deputy, or by the proper municipal, county, or State authorities at the place where the death occurred; permits for disinterment (including permission to reinter or transport the body disinterred) to be issued upon the written application of the nearest relative or the legal representative of the deceased; and no superintendent or other person in charge of any cemetery in said District or other place for the disposal of dead bodies shall assist in or assent to or allow any such interment, disinterment, or disposition to be made in such cemetery or place until permit shall be given as aforesaid. It shall be the duty of every such superintendent or other person who shall receive any such permit aforesaid to indorse thereon the date of the interment, disinterment, or disposal, and to preserve, sign, and return the same to the health officer of said District before six o'clock postmeridian of the Saturday following the day of burial, disinterment, or disposal.

Sec. 676. CONVEYANCE THROUGH THE DISTRICT.-No dead body or part of the dead body of any human being shall be in any manner carried or conveyed from, in, to, or through said District by any person, or by means of any boat, vessel, car, stage, or other vehicle, or by any public or private conveyance, without a permit therefor first granted by the health officer of said District: Provided, That bodies or parts of dead bodies aforesaid, except such as have died of Asiatic cholera, yellow fever, typhus fever, smallpox (including varioloid), leprosy, the plague, diphtheria, or scarlet fever, may be brought into said District, or carried through the same in transit, upon a permit of the proper municipal, county, or State authorities of the place at which such person died; and whenever the remains of any deceased person have been conveyed, transferred, or removed beyond the limits of said District it shall be the duty of the person or agent or officer of the corporation having charge of such conveyance, transfer, or removal to detach, date, sign, and return to the health officer the permit authorizing such conveyance, transfer, or removal before six o'clock postmeridian of the Saturday following the day of such conveyance, transfer, or removal of said remains.

Sec. 677. REPORTS OF DEATH.-It shall be the duty of any person or persons having custody or control of the dead body of any human being or any part of such body to report in writing or cause to be reported in writing, to the health officer of said District, within fortyeight hours after the death of the deceased, the name of said deceased and the location of the body or part thereof. No such body or part thereof shall be kept in said District in such manner as to give rise to any offensive odors to the annoyance of any person or persons in the neighborhood or to the public, nor so as to be exposed to the public view; nor shall any such body or part thereof be permitted by the person or persons having custody or control of it to remain unburied for a longer period than one week after death without permission of the health officer, unless it has been cremated or deposited in the vault of some cemetery; nor shall any person publicly exhibit in said District, for pay or otherwise, any dead body of any human being or any part of such body without a permit from the health officer of said District so to do, except such exhibition be in connection with some Government museum or with some institution of learning permanently located in said District.

Sec. 678. PLACE OF BURIAL-No person shall bury or cause to be buried within said District the body or part of the body of any deceased person, except in such grounds as are now known and used as public or private burial grounds, or such as shall hereafter be designated by the Commissioners of said District and authorized by them to be used as such.

Sec. 679. MODE OF BURIAL.- -No body shall be buried in said District in any vault unless the coffin be separately entombed in properly cemented stone or brick work, so as to render such vault air-tight; such vault, after having been sealed, shall not be opened within ten years; no body shall be temporarily deposited in any vault for a longer period than one month, unless such body is in an hermetically sealed metallic case, nor in any instance for a longer period than one year.

Sec. 680. REOPENING GRAVES.-No grave in said District shall be reopened, except for the purpose of disinterment, within ten years

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