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Burial and Cremation Act 1964

Establishment, maintenance, and regulation of cemeteries

13: Rights of minister of religion, etc

You could also call this:

"Ministers of religion have rights in cemeteries to perform duties and make decisions."

Illustration for Burial and Cremation Act 1964

You have the right to visit a cemetery if you are a minister of a religion. You can perform your spiritual duties without being disturbed by the local council or others. You can do this in the part of the cemetery set aside for your religion under section 11. You can decide how to perform religious ceremonies for burials in your part of the cemetery. You can also choose what inscriptions go on monuments, following the rules in section 9 and any bylaws. The local council cannot interfere with these decisions by making bylaws or taking actions that contradict them.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM355456.

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12: Sections may be marked off and consecrated, or

"Some cemetery areas can be set aside for specific religious groups"

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14: Guardians, or

"People who help care for a cemetery area for their religious group"

Part 1Establishment, maintenance, and regulation of cemeteries

13Rights of minister of religion, etc

  1. The minister of any religious denomination for which any portion of a cemetery is set apart under section 11 shall at all times have free right of access and admission thereto, and may freely exercise his spiritual functions therein, without any hindrance or disturbance by the local authority or any other person.

  2. Every religious denomination shall have power to regulate, in relation to any portion of a cemetery set apart for its exclusive use,—

  3. the performance of any religious ceremony in the burial of the dead according to the usage of the denomination; and
    1. the inscriptions on any monuments erected in such portion in accordance with the provisions of section 9 and any bylaws made under this Act.

      1. A local authority shall not by any bylaw, or any act, matter, or thing, at any time interfere directly or indirectly with the matters specified in subsection (2).

      Compare
      • 1908 No 19 ss 36, 37, 38