Funeral Law and Ethics Final Review
Study Guide
Sources of Law -
✔️*State regulations and Laws: Police power and state licensing
*Case Law: Stare Decisis and Court of Equity
*Common Law: unwritten laws
*Federal Law: OSHA, ADA, FTC funeral rule
stare decisis -
✔️Let the decision stand; decisions are based on precedents from previous cases
court of equity -
✔️A court that decides controversies and administers justice according to the rules,
principles, and precedents of equity.
Types of Law -
✔️*Criminal *Civil *Family *Tort
Common Law -
✔️*Customs which have become recognized by the courts as binding on the
community; Customs gradually became law
*Colonists brought this concept of law to America from England
Equity -
✔️*System based on fairness in which monetary damages sometimes are not
sufficient
*Gave rise to restraining orders and injunctions
Define "Dead Body" or "Corpse" -
✔️specifically means the body of a human being deprived of life but not yet entirely
disintegrated
For a body to be legally dead it must meet these 3 conditions: -
✔️1. must be the body of a human being
2. body is without life
3. body is not entirely disintegrated
Types of law get their power from where? -
✔️Sources of law
Civil Law -
✔️concerned with private or purely personal rights
Criminal Law -
✔️Concerned with offenses against society as a whole
, Felonies -
✔️A serious criminal offense punishable by a prison sentence of more than one year
Quasi-property -
✔️In legal terminology, a dead body is considered to be almost property or
_______?
Tort Law -
✔️Law that deals with harm to a person or a person's property.
3 types of Tort Law -
✔️intentional, negligent, strict liability
Intentional Tort -
✔️A wrongful act knowingly committed; "on purpose"
Negligent Tort -
✔️occurs when the defendant fails to act in a responsible way and thereby subjects
other people to an unreasonable risk of harm
Strict Liability Tort -
✔️*Provides an individual or entity may be held liable for their conduct without the
need to prove the act was either intentional or negligent.
*This type of tort is most often associated with product liability, such as when a
consumer purchases a product that is later determined to be defective or faulty in
design.
Tort Claims -
✔️*Filed in civil court
*Funeral establishments duty is to provide a safe place and care for human remains
*Funeral Home owners must maintain facilities and grounds for safety
Right to Choose Disposition -
✔️The paramount right to take custody of the body includes the right to choose the
method of dispostion
FTC Funeral Rule -
✔️The Trade Regulation Rule on Funeral Industry Practices; implemented by the
U.S. Federal Trade Commission in 1984; requires that funeral service providers give
detailed information about prices and legal requirements to people who are
purchasing funeral services.
Pre-Need Contracts -
✔️*an agreement between a consumer and a funeral director in which a specified
amount is set in advance for the consumer's own funeral
*4 Types of Pre-need Contracts are: 1. Revocable
2. Irrevocable 3. Guaranteed 4. Non-Guarateed
All General Price List (GPL) must include what information? -
✔️*Funeral home Name, Address and Phone number
Study Guide
Sources of Law -
✔️*State regulations and Laws: Police power and state licensing
*Case Law: Stare Decisis and Court of Equity
*Common Law: unwritten laws
*Federal Law: OSHA, ADA, FTC funeral rule
stare decisis -
✔️Let the decision stand; decisions are based on precedents from previous cases
court of equity -
✔️A court that decides controversies and administers justice according to the rules,
principles, and precedents of equity.
Types of Law -
✔️*Criminal *Civil *Family *Tort
Common Law -
✔️*Customs which have become recognized by the courts as binding on the
community; Customs gradually became law
*Colonists brought this concept of law to America from England
Equity -
✔️*System based on fairness in which monetary damages sometimes are not
sufficient
*Gave rise to restraining orders and injunctions
Define "Dead Body" or "Corpse" -
✔️specifically means the body of a human being deprived of life but not yet entirely
disintegrated
For a body to be legally dead it must meet these 3 conditions: -
✔️1. must be the body of a human being
2. body is without life
3. body is not entirely disintegrated
Types of law get their power from where? -
✔️Sources of law
Civil Law -
✔️concerned with private or purely personal rights
Criminal Law -
✔️Concerned with offenses against society as a whole
, Felonies -
✔️A serious criminal offense punishable by a prison sentence of more than one year
Quasi-property -
✔️In legal terminology, a dead body is considered to be almost property or
_______?
Tort Law -
✔️Law that deals with harm to a person or a person's property.
3 types of Tort Law -
✔️intentional, negligent, strict liability
Intentional Tort -
✔️A wrongful act knowingly committed; "on purpose"
Negligent Tort -
✔️occurs when the defendant fails to act in a responsible way and thereby subjects
other people to an unreasonable risk of harm
Strict Liability Tort -
✔️*Provides an individual or entity may be held liable for their conduct without the
need to prove the act was either intentional or negligent.
*This type of tort is most often associated with product liability, such as when a
consumer purchases a product that is later determined to be defective or faulty in
design.
Tort Claims -
✔️*Filed in civil court
*Funeral establishments duty is to provide a safe place and care for human remains
*Funeral Home owners must maintain facilities and grounds for safety
Right to Choose Disposition -
✔️The paramount right to take custody of the body includes the right to choose the
method of dispostion
FTC Funeral Rule -
✔️The Trade Regulation Rule on Funeral Industry Practices; implemented by the
U.S. Federal Trade Commission in 1984; requires that funeral service providers give
detailed information about prices and legal requirements to people who are
purchasing funeral services.
Pre-Need Contracts -
✔️*an agreement between a consumer and a funeral director in which a specified
amount is set in advance for the consumer's own funeral
*4 Types of Pre-need Contracts are: 1. Revocable
2. Irrevocable 3. Guaranteed 4. Non-Guarateed
All General Price List (GPL) must include what information? -
✔️*Funeral home Name, Address and Phone number
