ATE OF 
;SSIONAL AND VOCAfIONAL STANDARDS 
ERAL DIRECTORS AND EMBALMERS 
FUNERAL DIRECTORS 
AND 
EMBALMERS LAW 
APPROVED JUNE 2, 1943 
IQ 43 Xilivn 
printed in California state printing office 
SACRAMENTO, 194) GEORGE H. MOORE, STATE PRINTER STATE OF CALIFORNIA 
DEPARTMENT OF PROFESSIONAL AND VOCAfIONAL STANDARDS 
BOARD OF FUNERAL DIRECTORS AND EMBALMERS 
FUNERAL DIRECTORS 
AND 
EMBALMERS LAW 
APPROVED JUNE 2, 1943 
1943 Ait tan 
printed in California state printing office 
SACRAMENTO, 1945 GEORGE H. MOORE, STATE PRINTER DEPARTMENT OF 
PROFESSIONAL AND VOCATIONAL STANDARDS 
PERCY C. HECKENDORF 
Director of Department 
FRED A. TAYLOR 
Assistant Director 
BOARD OF FUNERAL DIRECTORS AND EMBALMERS 
MEMBERS 
GEORGE L. KLUMPP, President 
Sacramento 
HARRY 0. HUM, Vice President 
Inglewood 
M. NEWTON HOWELL 
Madera 
KENNETH H. GILLETTE 
Los Angeles 
JOHN J. COX, Secretary 
Oakland 
CHARLES ANSPAOH, Assistant Secretary-Inspector 
Sacramento 
FRANK J. BARRY, Attorney 
Los Angeles 
HARRIS E. STEWART, Representative 
Los Angeles FUNERAL DIRECTORS AND EMBALMERS LAW 
(Effective as of June 2, 1943) 
ARTICLE 1. ADMINISTRATION 
7600. This chapter of the Business and Professions Code con- 
stitutes the chapter on funeral directors and emhalmers. It may be 
cited as the Funeral Directors and Embalmers Law. 
7601. There is in the Department of Professional and Vocational 
Standards a State Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers which 
consists of five members appointed by the Governor. 
7602. Members of the board shall only be appointed from persons 
who are licensed as funeral directors or embalmers and who have had a 
minimum of five consecutive years’ experience in funeral directing or 
embalming immediately preceding their appointment, and who are not 
financially interested, directly or indirectly, in any institution engaged 
in embalming or funeral directing instruction and who are not members 
of the faculty of such an institution. 
7603. Members of the board shall be appointed for a term of four 
years and they shall hold office until the appointment and qualification 
of their successors. 
The terms of the members of the board in office when this chapter 
takes effect shall expire as follows: one member, January 15, 1940; 
two members, January 15, 1941; one member, January 15, 1942; and 
one member, January 15, 1943. The terms shall expire in the same 
relative order as to each member as the terms for which he holds office 
before this chapter takes effect. 
Vacancies occurring shall be filled by appointment for the unex- 
pired term. 
7604. The Governor may remove any member of the board for 
incompetency or improper conduct. 
7605. The board shall meet annually, and at such other times as 
it may determine. 
It shall elect from its members, each for a term of one year, a 
president, a vice president, and a secretary. 
The salary of the secretary shall be fixed by the board with the 
approval of the Department of Finance. Each member, other than 
the secretary, shall receive as compensation for his services the sum of 
ten dollars ($10) for each day’s actual attendance upon a board or 
committee meeting. 
Each member shall be reimbursed for his traveling expenses neces- 
sarily incurred in the performance of his duties. 
3 4 
7606. The board may adopt and enforce reasonable rules and 
regulations relating to: 
(a) The practice of embalming. 
(b) The business of a funeral director. 
(c) The sanitary condition of places where such practice or busi- 
ness is conducted with particular regard to plumbing, sewage, ventila- 
tion and equipment. 
(d) Carrying out generally the various provisions of this chapter 
for the protection of the peace, health, safety, welfare and morals of 
the public. 
7607. The board may inspect the premises in which the business 
of a funeral director is conducted or where embalming is practiced. 
7608. The Director of Professional and Vocational Standards may 
employ and appoint all employees necessary properly to administer the 
work of the board and the work of the department, in accordance with 
civil service regulations. 
Upon recommendation of the board, and with the approval of the 
Director of Finance, the Director of Professional and Vocational Stand- 
ards shall employ investigators and attorneys to assist the board in 
prosecuting violations of this chapter, whose compensation and expenses 
shall be payable only out of the State Funeral Directors and Embalmers 
Fund. 
7609. This chapter does not apply to, or in any way interfere 
with, the duties of any officer of any public institution or of any duly 
accredited medical college, nor does it apply to any one engaged only 
in the furnishing of burial receptacles. 
ARTICLE 2. FUNERAL DIRECTORS 
7615. A funeral director is a person, partnership, association, 
corporation or other organization engaged in or conducting, or holding 
himself or itself out as engaged in each of the following: 
(a) Preparing for the burial or disposal, and directing and super- 
vising for burial or disposal of dead human bodies. 
(b) Maintaining a funeral establishment for the preparation for 
the disposition or for the care of dead human bodies. 
(c) Using, in connection with his or its name or funeral estab- 
lishment, the words “funeral director,” or “undertaker,” or “mor- 
tician,” or any other title implying that he or it is engaged as a funeral 
director. 
7616. A funeral establishment is a place of business conducted at 
a specific street address or location devoted exclusively to the care and 
preparation for burial or transportation of human dead bodies and con- 
sisting of: 
(a) A chapel in which funeral services may be conducted. 
(b) A preparation room equipped with a sanitary flooring and 
necessary drainage and ventilation, and containing necessary instru- 
ments and supplies for the preparation and embalming of human dead 
bodies for burial or transportation. 5 
(c) A display room containing a stock of funeral caskets and 
shipping eases. 
The board may adopt such rules as may be reasonable and proper 
to define such necessary drainage and ventilation and sanitary flooring 
and necessary and suitable instruments, supplies and merchandise in a 
funeral establishment. 
7617. ‘The business of a funeral director shall be conducted and 
engaged in at a fixed place or establishment. 
No person, partnership, association, corporation or other organiza- 
tion, shall open or maintain a place or establishment at which to engage 
in or conduct, or hold himself or itself out as engaging in or con- 
ducting, the business of a funeral director without a license. 
7618. An application for a funeral director’s license shall be 
written on a form provided by the board, verified by the applicant, or 
in case the applicant is an association, partnership or corporation, the 
president or other officer appearing therefor, accompanied by the fee 
fixed by this chapter and filed at its Sacramento office. 
7619. The applicant, or in case the applicant is an association, 
partnership or corporation, the officer or partner appearing therefor, 
shall be at least 21 years of age and of good character. 
7620. The application shall specify the address at which the 
applicant proposes to engage in or conduct a place of business as a 
funeral director and shall be accompanied by the affidavits of at least 
two reputable residents of the county in which the applicant resides, 
or proposes to engage in or conduct a funeral establishment, to the 
effect that the applicant, or the president or other officer, if the appli- 
cant is an association, partnership or corporation, or the individual who 
is to manage, direct or control such association, partnership or cor- 
poration, is of good character. 
7621. The applicant shall also furnish the board with satisfac- 
tory proof that the establishment in which he intends to conduct busi- 
ness as a funeral director is or will be constructed, equipped and 
maintained in all respects as a funeral establishment as defined in this 
chapter. 
7622. Before an application is granted, the applicant, when an 
individual, and the president or such other officer of an association, 
partnership, corporation, or other organization, or the individual who 
is to manage, direct or control the proposed business or profession shall 
successfully pass an examination upon the following subjects: 
(a) The signs of death. 
(b) The manner by which death may be determined. 
(c) The laws governing the preparation, burial and disposal of 
dead human bodies, and the shipment of bodies dying from infectious 
or contagious diseases. 
(d) Local health and sanitary ordinances and regulations relat- 
ing to funeral directing and embalming. 6 
7623. If an applicant for a funeral director’s license proposes to 
engage in or conduct more than one funeral establishment, the applicant 
shall make a separate application and procure a separate license as a 
funeral director for each separate location. 
7624. Not more than one person, partnership, association, cor- 
poration or other organization engaged in business as a funeral director 
shall transact business in one specific funeral establishment*. 
7625. Upon receipt of an application for a license, the board shall 
cause an investigation to be made of the character of the applicant, 
including its officers or members and, if the application is by or in 
behalf of a partnership, association, corporation or other organization, 
the character of its officers or members, and may require such showing 
as will reasonably prove the good character of the applicant. 
The board may subpena witnesses, administer oaths and take testi- 
mony with respect to the character of the applicant and, upon proper 
notice and after proper hearing, shall grant a license if it finds that 
the applicant is of good character, and that the proposed funeral estab- 
lishment is or will be constructed and equipped as required by this 
chapter. 
7626. The board may examine into and pass upon the qualifica- 
tions of the applicant as to character, ability and experience before 
passing upon the physical status of the proposed funeral establishment. 
If the applicant’s character, ability and experience are favorably 
passed upon, the board shall instruct the secretary to issue a funeral 
director’s license upon the filing with it of a favorable report, 
approved by the secretary, from a board member or an inspector con- 
cerning the physical status of the proposed funeral establishment. 
7627. Every application for a funeral director’s license under 
this article shall be granted or refused within 90 days from the date 
of the filing of the application or within 30 days after the close of 
the hearing upon the application, in case a hearing is held. 
7628. Any funeral director desiring to change his place of busi- 
ness shall apply therefor on forms furnished by the board and accom- 
panied by the fee fixed by this chapter. 
The application shall be granted by the secretary upon the filing 
with the board of a favorable report, approved by the secretary, from 
a board member or an inspector concerning the physical status of the 
proposed new location to the effect that it conforms with the require- 
ments of this article. 
7629. No funeral establishment shall be conducted or held forth 
as being conducted or advertised as being conducted under any name 
which might tend to mislead the public or which would be sufficiently 
like the name of any other licensed funeral director so as to constitute 
an unfair method of competition. 
Any funeral director desiring to change the name appearing on 
his license may do so by applying to the board and paying the fee 
fixed by this chapter. 7 
7630. A funeral director’s license may be assigned upon payment 
of the fee fixed by this chapter and, if the assignee does not already 
possess a license as a funeral director, upon his meeting the qualifi- 
cations for a funeral director as prescribed by this code. 
The assignee has the right to renew the license. 
7631. In case of the death of a licensed funeral director, who 
leaves an established business, as part or all of the assets of his estate, 
the board may issue a special temporary license to his legal repre- 
sentative, if the legal representative is of good character. 
* 7632. Every funeral director shall cause all dead human bodies 
embalmed in his funeral establishment to be embalmed by a regularly 
licensed embalmer, or by an apprentice embalmer under the supervision 
of a regularly licensed embalmer. 
ARTICLE 3. EMBALMERS 
7640. An embalmer is a person duly licensed as such under the 
laws of the State of California. 
7641. No person shall engage in, or hold himself out as engaged 
in practice as an embalmer, unless he is licensed by the board; provided, 
however, that this section shall have no effect on students and instructors 
of embalming in embalming colleges approved by the board. 
7642. An application for an embalmer’s license shall be written 
on a form provided by the board, verified by the applicant, and accom- 
panied by the fee fixed by this chapter and by affidavits of at least two 
reputable residents of the county in which the applicant resides or 
proposes to engage in the practice of embalming to the effect that the 
applicant is of good character. 
7643. In order to qualify for a license as an embalmer, the appli- 
cant shall comply with all of the following requirements: 
(a) Be over 19 years of age. 
(b) Be of good character. 
(c) Furnish proof showing completion of a high school course or 
instead he may furnish the board with evidence that he has been licensed 
and has practiced as an embalmer for a minimum of three years within 
the seven years preceding his application in any other State or country 
and that such license has never been suspended or revoked for unethical 
conduct. 
(d) Have completed at least one year of apprenticeship under an 
embalmer license and engaged in practice as an embalmer in this State 
in a funeral establishment which shall have been approved for appren- 
tices by the board and while so apprenticed shall have assisted in 
embalming or otherwise preparing for disposition not less than 25 
human dead bodies. 
(e) Have completed a course of instruction of not less than nine 
months which embraces the subjects specified in Section 7646 of this 
code, in an embalming school approved by the board. 8 
7646. The board shall require the applicant to pass an examina- 
tion, which shall include the following subjects: 
(a) Theory and practice of embalming. 
(b) Anatomy, including histology, embryology and dissection. 
(c) Pathology and bacteriology. 
(d) Hygiene, including sanitation and public health. 
(e) Chemistry, including toxicology. 
(f) Restorative art, including plastic surgery and demisurgery. 
7647. The board shall hold at least one meeting annually, for the 
purpose of examining applicants for embalmers ’ licenses. 
Examinations shall be held at such times and places as maf be 
determined by the board. 
Notice of the time and place of such examinations shall be given 
as determined by the board. 
7648. No embalmer’s license is assignable, and only the licensee 
may engage in the practice of embalming under the license. 
7649. Whenever the name or license number of any licensed 
embalmer is subscribed to any certificate, the purport of which is that 
he performed any act mentioned in the certificate, the licensed 
embalmer shall actually sign his name thereto. 
7650. From time to time, the board may examine the require- 
ments for the issuance of licenses to embalmers in other States of the 
United States and cause a record to be kept of those States in which 
standards are maintained for embalmers, not lower than those provided 
in this chapter. 
ARTICLE 4. APPRENTICES 
7660. An apprentice is a person engaged in the study of the art 
of embalming under the instruction and supervision of a regularly 
licensed embalmer of and practicing in the State of California. 
7661. An application for registration as an embalmer’s appren- 
tice shall be made upon a form provided by the board, verified by the 
applicant and accompanied by the fee fixed by this chapter. 
7662. In order to qualify as an embalmer’s apprentice, an appli- 
cant shall comply with all of the following requirements: 
(a) Be over 17 years of age. 
(b) Be of good moral character. 
(c) Furnish proof showing completion of a high school course or 
instead he may furnish the board with evidence that he has been 
licensed and has practiced as an embalmer for a minimum of three 
years within the seven years preceding his application in any other 
State or' country and that such license has never been suspended or 
revoked for unethical conduct. 
7663. Whenever it appears to the secretary that no reason exists 
for the denial of an application and that the application is regular 9 
upon its face, he may issue a certificate of apprenticeship to the 
applicant, without submitting the application to the board. 
If, however, any doubt exists as to the qualifications of the appli- 
cant, the application shall be submitted to the board and may be 
accepted or, after notice and hearing, rejected by a majority vote of 
the board. 
7665. The board shall supervise and control all registered appren- 
tices and shall require them to report annually during the month of 
January and at the completion of their apprenticeship, upon forms 
provided by the board, showing the work which they have performed 
during the annual period preceding the first day of the month on which 
the report is made. The report shall include the number of hours served 
and the number of bodies the apprentice has assisted in embalming or 
otherwise preparing for disposition during the period; provided, that 
whenever an apprentice changes his employment from one funeral 
establishment to another he shall forthwith notify the board of such 
change, state the name of the funeral director to whose establishment 
he has changed and the name of the embalmer under whom he is there- 
after to serve and shall at the same time report to the board, upon forms 
provided by the board, showing the work which he shall have performed 
during his apprenticeship previous to such change. 
The information contained in the report shall be certified to as 
correct by the funeral director in whose establishment the apprentice 
has been employed during the period, and by the embalmer under whom 
he has served during the period. 
7666. The term of apprenticeship shall be one year; provided, a 
registrant who has completed his one apprenticeship may re-serve his 
apprenticeship by reregistration for not more than two additional one- 
year periods. An apprentice shall be entitled to two weeks’ vacation 
during the apprenticeship period without leave of absence from the 
board. 
The board shall have power to grant leaves of absence and approve 
absences during the term of apprenticeship, however, leaves of absence 
for such time as the apprentice is serving in the armed forces of the 
United States shall be automatic. 
Xo credit shall be given to an apprentice upon his apprenticeship 
for the period during which he is absent from duty on leave. 
7667. Application for leave of absence and for an extension thereof 
shall he made by the apprentice upon a form provided by the board. 
Upon the termination of a leave of absence or any extension thereof, 
the apprentice shall report to the board the fact that he has resumed 
his duties as an apprentice and shall submit to the board affidavits sub- 
scribed by the funeral director in whose establishment he has resumed 
his duties and by the embalmer under whom he is apprenticed, confirming 
this fact. 
Failure to so report within 10 days after the expiration date of 
any leave of absence or approved absence or extension of either thereof 
shall be cause for cancellation of the registration of an apprentice. 
2—24782 7668. The board may suspend or revoke a certificate of appren- 
ticeship, after notice and upon complaint and hearing in accordance 
with the provisions of Article 6, where the apprentice is guilty of any 
of the following acts or omissions: 
(a) Failure to devote not less than an average of 15 hours per 
week, to the duties of his apprenticeship. 
(b) Failure to make any report required by law to the board. 
(c) Absence from duty except as provided in this code. 
(d) Gross immorality. 
(e) Being on duty as an apprentice while under the influence of 
liquor. 
(f) Disobedience of proper orders or instructions of his superior. 
(g) Violation of any provision of this chapter or any rule or 
regulation of the board. 
(h) Soliciting business for a funeral director or for an embalmer 
in violation of this chapter. 
(i) Fraud or misrepresentation in obtaining a certificate of regis- 
tration as an apprentice. 
(j) Failure to pay any fee required by law. 
7669. An apprentice who has allowed his certificate of apprentice- 
ship to lapse or who has had his certificate of apprenticeship suspended 
or revoked may, within one year after such suspension, revocation or 
lapse, apply for reregistration upon compliance with existing laws. 
No reregistration shall be permitted so as to continue an apprenticeship 
beyond the period of three years from the date of the original reregis- 
tration. 
The board may, when the circumstances warrant, allow an appren- 
tice credit under a reregistration for time actually served under a 
previous registration, but if the previous registration has been suspended 
or revoked, not more than 75 per cent of the time previously served shall 
be credited on the reregistration. 
ARTICLE 5. BOARD OF HEALTH REPORTS 
7680. Every license issued shall: 
(a) Specify the name of the licensee. 
(b) Be signed by the licensee. 
(c) Be displayed conspicuously in the place of business or employ- 
ment of the licensee. 
(d) Be registered by name and number with the board of health 
of the city or county in which the licensee proposes to conduct a funeral 
establishment or to practice as an embalmer. A certificate upon a form 
provided by the State Board of Funeral Directors and Embalmers, 
showing compliance with this section, shall be signed and delivered to 
the registrant'by the registrar of such board of health upon such 
registration. 
7681. Whenever a licensee changes his residence or place of 
business, from the jurisdiction of any particular board of health to 
another, such licensee shall, within 10 days after such change, register 
with the board of health to whose jurisdiction he has moved. 7682. No city or comity authority shall issue any permit or 
license for removal or interment of a dead human body to any funeral 
director or embalmer unless such funeral director or embalmer has 
registered as provided in this article. 
7683. Whenever a licensee has allowed his license to lapse or has 
had his license suspended or revoked, the secretary shall promptly 
notify the board of health with whom the license has been registered 
of such lapse or suspension or revocation. No city or county author- 
ity shall issue any permit or license to any funeral director or 
embalmer to whose board of health such notice has been given, until 
the board of health is notified of the reinstatement of such funeral 
director or embalmer. 
ARTICLE 6. DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS 
7686. The board may suspend or revoke licenses, after proper 
notice and hearing to the licensee, if the licensee has been found guilty 
by the board of any of the acts or omissions constituting grounds for 
disciplinary action. 
7686.5. All complaints against licensees shall be written and 
shall be signed by the complainant and filed with the secretary within 
one year after the performance of the act or omission alleged as the 
ground for disciplinary action. 
7687. Upon receipt of a complaint, the secretary shall ascertain 
whether or not the accused licensee has been guilty of an act or omis- 
sion constituting a ground for disciplinary action and may make or 
cause to be made such investigation as he deems necessary in order to 
ascertain this fact. 
If, with or without investigation, he determines that the accused 
licensee has not been guilty of an act or omission constituting a 
ground for disciplinary action, he shall notify the complainant and 
file his findings with the board. If, with or without investigation, 
he determines that the accused licensee is guilty or is probably guilty 
of such an act or omission, he shall file his findings with the board, 
including therein such recommendations as he deems desirable. 
7687.5. The board may, if it desires, hold an informal hearing 
and an investigation, with or without the knowledge or presence of 
the accused licensee. The board may not do more than determine 
upon the following courses at an informal hearing or after an investi- 
gation : 
(a) To continue the case for further investigation. 
(b) To suspend further action until a future time. 
(e) To dismiss the complaint. 
(d) To proceed with a formal hearing. 
7688. A formal hearing shall be held upon a written complaint 
signed and verified by the complainant, setting forth specifically the 
charges against the accused licensee. 12 
Upon the filing of the verified complaint with the secretary, he 
shall issue a citation addressed to the accused licensee as the respond- 
ent, commanding him to appear before the board at the time and place 
specified or his default will be entered and disciplinary action taken 
against him. 
7688.5. The citation, together with a copy of the complaint, shall 
be served upon the accused licensee personally not later than 10 days 
prior to the date set for the formal hearing. Service may be made by 
any person qualified to serve a summons in a civil action and proofs 
of service shall be filed with the board. The appearance of the accused 
licensee without objection to the manner or form of the citation or the 
notice given thereby constitutes a submission to the jurisdiction of 
the board. 
7689. Formal hearings of the board shall be public and shall be 
conducted by the board in accordance with the rules and regulations 
its prescribes. 
7689.5. All testimony before the board at a formal hearing shall 
be under oath, which any member of the board may administer, and 
all witnesses shall be subject to examination and cross-examination. 
A record shall be made of the testimony of all witnesses and, upon 
order of the board, may be transcribed. 
7690. The board may discipline every accused licensee whose 
default has been entered or who has been tried and found guilty, after 
formal hearing, of any act or omission constituting a ground for dis- 
ciplinary action. 
Any of the following penalties may be imposed by the board: 
(a) Suspension of the disciplinary order. 
(b) Reproval, public or private. 
(c) Probation. 
(d) Suspension of the right to practice. 
(e) Revocation of the right to practice. 
(f) Such other penalties as the hoard deems fit. 
In cases in which the disciplinary order of the board provides for 
the suspension or revocation of the right of the licensee to practice, 
the order shall not become effective until a certified copy thereof has 
been personally served upon the licensee. 
7691. Conviction of a crime invohdng moral turpitude consti- 
tutes a ground for disciplinary action. 
7692. Misrepresentation or fraud in the conduct of the business 
of the profession of a funeral director or embalmer constitutes a 
ground for disciplinary action. 
7693. False or misleading adAmrtising as a funeral director or 
embalmer constitutes a ground for disciplinary action. 
7694. Solicitation, after a death or Avhile a death is impending, 
of funeral directing or embalming business by the licensee, or the 13 
agents, assistants or employees of the licensee, when such solicitation 
is authorized or ratified by the licensee, constitutes a ground for 
disciplinary action. This section does not prohibit general adver- 
tising. 
7695. Employment by the licensee of persons known as “cap- 
pers” or “steerers” or “solicitors,” or other such persons to solicit, 
after a death or while a death is impending, funeral directing or 
embalming business constitutes a ground for disciplinary action. 
7696. Employment, directly or indirectly, of any apprentice, 
agent, assistant, embalmer, employee or other person, on part or full 
time, or on commission, for the purpose of calling upon individuals 
or institutions by whose influence dead human bodies may be turned 
over to a particular funeral director or embalmer constitutes a ground 
for disciplinary action. 
7697. The buying, after a death or while a death is impending, 
of funeral directing and embalming business by the licensee, his agents, 
assistants or employees, or the direct or indirect payment, or offer of 
payment, of a commission by the licensee, his agents, assistants or 
employees for the purpose of such buying of business, constitutes a 
ground for disciplinary action. 
7698. Gross immorality constitutes a ground for disciplinary 
action. 
7699. Aiding or abetting an unlicensed person to practice funeral 
directing or embalming constitutes a ground for disciplinary action. 
7700. Using profane, indecent or obscene language in the course 
of the preparation for burial, removal or other disposition of or during 
the funeral service for a dead human body, or within the immediate 
hearing of the family or relatives of a deceased, whose body has not 
yet been interred or otherwise disposed of constitutes a ground for 
disciplinary action. 
7701. Solicitation or acceptance by a licensee of any commission 
or bonus or rebate in consideration of recommending or causing a dead 
human body to be disposed of in any crematory, mausoleum or cemetery 
constitutes a ground for disciplinary action. 
7702. Using any casket or part of a casket which has previously 
been used as a receptacle for, or in connection with the burial or other 
disposition of, a dead human body constitutes a ground for disciplinary 
action; provided, however, this section shall not apply to exterior casket 
hardware which is not sold to the purchaser, or where same is reserved 
by contract. 
7703. Violation of any of the provisions of this chapter constitutes 
a ground for disciplinary action. 14 
7704. Violation of any State law or municipal or county ordi- 
nance or regulation affecting the handling, custody, care or transporta- 
tion of dead human bodies constitutes a ground for disciplinary action. 
7705. Fraud or misrepresentation in obtaining a license consti- 
tutes a ground for disciplinary action. 
7706. Refusing to surrender promptly the custody of a dead 
human body, upon the express order of the person lawfully entitled to 
its custody constitutes a ground for disciplinary action. 
7707. Gross negligence or gross incompetency in the practice of 
funeral directing or embalming constitutes a ground for disciplinary 
action. 
ARTICLE 7. PENAL PROVISIONS 
7715. Any person, partnership, association, corporation or other 
form of organization or his or its agents or representatives, who violates 
any of the provisions of this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor. 
7716. Every funeral director or embalmer, or the agents or repre- 
sentatives thereof, who, after a death or while a death is impending, 
pays, offers to pay or causes to be paid, directly or indirectly, any 
sum of money or other valuable consideration for the securing of 
business is guilty of a misdemeanor. 
7717. Every person, who pays or causes to be paid or offers to 
pay to any funeral director or embalmer, or to the agent, assistant or 
employee of either, any commission or bonus or rebate or other thing 
of value in consideration of such funeral director or embalmer recom- 
mending or causing a dead human body to be disposed of in any crema- 
tory, mausoleum or cemetery, is guilty of a misdemeanor. 
7718. Every person who, after a death or while a death is impend- 
ing, solicits or accepts any sum of money or other valuable considera- 
tion, d irectly or indirectly, from a funeral director or embalmer, his 
agent or representative, in order that the funeral director or embalmer 
might obtain business, is guilty of a misdemeanor. 
7719. Every person guilty of a misdemeanor under the provi- 
sions of this chapter, shall, upon conviction thereof, be punished by 
imprisonment in the county jail for not more than six months, or 
by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500), or by both. 
ARTICLE 8. REVENUE 
7725. Every licensed funeral director, every licensed embalmer 
and every registered apprentice shall pay an annual fee for the renewal 
of his or its license to the department. 
The board shall mail on or before the first day of January of each 
year to each licensed funeral director, each licensed embalmer and each 
registered apprentice, addressed to him at his last known address, a notice that his renewal fee is due and payable and that, if the fee is 
not paid by the first of February, a penalty will be added to the 
renewal fee. 
In no case shall the penalty be waived. 
Upon the receipt of the fees, the department shall cause the 
renewal certificate to be issued. 
7726. When a funeral director or embahner has had his or its 
license suspended, canceled or revoked by the board, or has allowed the 
same to lapse for nonpayment of fees, the board, upon written applica- 
tion by the licensee affected, upon not less than 10 days’ notice to all 
parties of record in the particular ease and after hearing all evidence 
offered in support of and in opposition to such application, may, in its 
discretion, and upon such terms as it may deem just reinstate the appli- 
cant, provided the application, in case of lapse, is accompanied by all 
fees, including penalties not exceeding twenty-five dollars ($25), from 
the time of the lapse to the date of reinstatement. 
7727. On or before the tenth day of each month, the department 
shall pay into the State Treasury and report to the State Controller 
all the fees received for the board. The fees shall be received by the 
State Treasurer and placed in the State Funeral Directors and 
Embalmers Fund, which fund is available for expenditures necessary 
for the proper administration of this chapter. 
7729. The amount of the fees and penalties prescribed by this 
chapter is that fixed by the following schedule: 
(a) The application fee for a funeral director’s license is twenty- 
five dollars ($25), 
(b) The fee for change of location is ten dollars ($10). 
(c) The fee for permission to assign a funeral director’s license is 
ten dollars ($10). 
(d) The application fee for an embalmer’s license is twenty-five 
dollars ($25). 
(e) The application fee for a certificate of registration as an 
apprentice is one dollar ($1). 
(f) The renewal fee payable by a licensed funeral director is fifteen 
dollars ($l5) but the board may increase the fee to not more than twenty- 
five dollars ($25) in one or more years or may reduce the fee to not less 
than seven dollars and fifty cents ($7.50) in one or more years. 
(g) The renewal fee payable by a licensed embalmer is five dollars 
($5) but the board may increase the fee to not more than seven dollars 
and fifty cents ($7.50) in one or more years or may reduce the fee to 
not less than two dollars and fifty cents ($2.50) in one or more years. 
(h) The annual renewal fee payable by a registered apprentice 
shall be one dollar ($1). 
(i) The penalty for failure to pay a funeral director’s renewal fee 
is ten dollars ($10). 
(j) The penalty for failure to pa}r an embalmer’s renewal fee is 
ten dollars ($10). 
(k) The penalty for failure to pay an apprentice’s renewal fee is 
five dollars ($5). (I) The fee for permission to change the name appearing on the 
license is ten dollars ($10). 
Section 1. Section 114 of the Business and Professions Code is 
amended to read: 
114. Any board or commission in the department which licenses 
any professional or vocational occupation, shall upon the application 
for renewal of a license by a person who has, within the 60-day period 
immediately prior to his application, served in the armed forces of the 
United States and who at the time of entry into such service had a 
current, valid, and unrevoked license, renew the license of such person 
without examination and without the payment of fees for delinquency 
upon payment of the current renewal fee. 
This section shall not apply to any licensee of the department or 
any board, agency or commission in the department or subject to its 
jurisdiction, whenever any other provision of this code applies. RULES AND REGULATIONS 
ARTICLE I 
Rule 1 
RULES REGULATING FUNERAL DIRECTORS 
Every application for a funeral director’s license shall be tiled 
with the secretary of the board not less than 30 days before the same 
shall be acted upon by the board. Within 10 days after the receipt 
of such application, the secretary of the board shall cause a notice of 
the filing of such application to be sent to the California Funeral 
Directors’ Association and to such other organization or person as he 
may deem expedient, located at or near the place where such applicant 
proposes to engage in business as a funeral director. The secretary of 
the board shall be and constitute a committee of the board to act upon 
applications for funeral director’s licenses, and when an applicant for 
a funeral director’s license shows by his application and the proofs 
submitted therewith that he is qualified to receive a funeral director’s 
license, and when all other requirements of this rule have been com- 
plied with, said secretary shall have the power to issue the funeral 
director’s license applied for; provided, that all licenses thus issued 
by the secretary shall be submitted for approval at the next meeting 
of the board after the issuance thereof, and if not approved by the 
board, all licenses so issued by the secretary shall be deemed to have 
been only temporary and shall not be rendered permanent until so 
voted by the board, but may when the evidence submitted so warrants, 
be denied by the board. 
Rule 2 
All ambulances, hearses and first-call or pickup cars and the 
equipment therein shall be kept clean and sanitary and free from 
deleterious odors at all times. Such ambulances, hearses and cars and 
the equipment thereof shall be mechanically cleansed with a one per 
cent (1%) solution of chlorinated soda, or other suitable and effective 
disinfectant, immediately after having been used for the transportation 
of a human body dead of contagious disease. 
Rule 3 
A funeral director’s license is not ambulatory and is issued for 
a specific location only. It shall be used only at the address specified 
in the certificate of license. The certificate of license shall remain the 
property of the State of California, in possession of the licensee only 
so long as he exercises the license at the location specified, and said 
certificate shall be surrendered to the State Board of Funeral Directors 
and Embalmers upon change of address, change of name, assignment 
or upon discontinuance of business at the specified address. This rule 
shall not prevent a licensed funeral director from conducting a funeral 
3—24782 
17 18 
in another licensed establishment, nor shall it prevent a licensed funeral 
director from conducting a funeral at a church, cemetery, home, public 
hall, lodge room, or other suitable place. 
Rule 4 
No funeral establishment shall be conducted or held forth as being 
conducted or advertised as being conducted under any name which 
might tend to mislead the public or which would be sufficiently like 
the name of any other licensed funeral director so as to constitute an 
unfair method of competition. 
Transposition of a licensed name is permissible and the individuals 
comprising such name may be listed alphabetically in the classified and 
general sections of telephone directories and other listings with appro- 
priate reference to the licensed name. Where the licensed name does 
not indicate the names of the individual owners of an establishment, 
the names of such owners as shown by the board’s records may be 
listed in the classified and general sections of telephone 
directories and other listings, followed by appropriate reference to the 
licensed name. A stockholder of a corporation, licensed as a funeral 
director, shall not be deemed to be an owner of the establishment so 
licensed, but a partner of a copartnership so licensed shall be deemed 
to be one of the owners of such establishment *and may be listed as an 
owner; provided, he is actively engaged in the conduct of the business, 
but not otherwise. The names of the president and one vice president 
or general manager of a corporation may be listed alphabetically in 
the classified and general sections of telephone directories and other 
listings, with appropriate reference to the licensed corporation of which 
they are such officers; provided, officers so listed are actively engaged 
in the conduct of the business. Corporations shall annually report to 
the board, at the time of making application for renewal of license, the 
names of their officers who are actually engaged in the conduct of the 
business. 
ARTICLE II 
RULES REGULATING THE PRACTICE OF EMBALMING 
Rule 1 
Every person, while engaged in actually embalming a dead human 
body, shall be attired in a clean and sanitary smock or gown covering 
the person from neck to below the knees, and shall, while so engaged, 
wear rubber impervious gloves; and the body being embalmed shall at 
all times be so covered as to insure the privacy of said body. 
Rule 2 
All instruments and appliances used in the embalming of a human 
dead body shall be thoroughly cleansed and sterilized by boiling or by 
immersion for 10 minutes in a one per cent (1%) solution of chlorinated 
soda, or other suitable and effective disinfectant, immediately at the 
conclusion of each individual case. 
Rule 3 
Every preparation room shall be provided with proper and con- 
venient receptacles for refuse, bandages, cotton and other waste 19 
materials and supplies, and all such refuse, bandages, cotton and other 
waste materials shall be destroyed by incineration immediately at the 
conclusion of each case to the end that germs of disease may be 
destroyed and the public health thereby protected; and every funeral 
establishment shall be equipped with an incinerator suitable for this 
purpose. 
Rule 4 
All mortuaries shall be kept and maintained in a clean and sanitary 
condition and all embalming’’ tables, hoppers, sinks, receptacles, instru- 
ments and other appliances used in embalming human dead bodies shall 
be thoroughly cleansed and disinfected with a one per cent (1%) solu- 
tion of chlorinated soda, or other suitable and effective disinfectant, 
immediately at the conclusion of each individual case. 
Rule 5 
Every preparation room shall be equipped with a sanitary embalm- 
ing table, and such table shall be provided with running water draining 
from the table into a sink or hopper, which sink or hopper shall be 
connected with the sewer, septic tank, cesspool or other proper recep- 
tacle or conduit. 
Rule 6 
Every preparation room shall comply in respect to ventilation with 
State and local laws, ordinances and regulations and in the absence of 
such shall be so ventilated that no deleterious odors shall be allowed to 
remain therein and so that the odors therefrom shall not be permitted 
to enter into any other part of the premises of the funeral director or 
into any other adjoining premises. 
Rule 7 
The care and preparation for burial or other disposition of all 
human dead bodies shall be strictly private and no one shall be allowed 
in the embalming room while a human dead body is being embalmed, 
except the licensed funeral director and his duly authorized officers 
and/or employees, licensed embalmers and their duly registered appren- 
tices, instructors of the science of embalming in embalming schools or 
colleges duly accredited by the board and their students, and except 
public officials in the discharge of their duties; provided, that this rule 
shall not apply to duly accredited nurses employed in a case, nor to 
members of the immediate family of the deceased. 
ARTICLE 111 
RULES REGULATING APPRENTICES 
Rule 1 
Every application for a certificate of registration as an apprentice 
shall be granted by the secretary of the board within 10 days after the 
same has been filed with him, unless a hearing by the board shall be 
held upon such application, in which case the application shall be 
granted or denied within 10 days after such hearing. 20 
Rule 2 
No person shall be allowed to register as an apprentice in any 
funeral establishment wherein less than an average of three human 
dead bodies per month shall have been prepared for burial or other dis- 
position during the 12 months immediately preceding the date of the 
application for such registration, or in any funeral establishment 
wherein the board determines that less than an average of three human 
dead bodies per month shall be prepared during the 12 months imme- 
diately succeeding such application; and no person shall be allowed to 
register as an apprentice in any funeral establishment which has not 
been approved for apprenticeship by the board. 
Rule 3 
Application by an apprentice for leave of absence and for extension 
thereof shall be filed with the secretary and may be granted by him. 
Rule 4 
When it appears from the records of the board that an apprentice 
has served his full term of apprenticeship, the secretary of the board 
shall issue to such apprentice a written notification showing that he has 
completed his apprenticeship. 
Rule 5 
Section 7632 of the Business and Professions Code provides that 
embalming by an embalmer’s apprentice must be under the supervision 
of a regularly licensed embalmer. When an apprentice embalms a body 
out of the presence of the embalmer under whom he is apprenticed, the 
death certificate shall not be signed by such embalmer until he makes a 
personal inspection in the presence of the apprentice of the body as 
embalmed, and passes thereon. 
ARTICLE IV 
Rule 1 
EXAMINATION FOR EMBALMERS LICENSES 
The date for examinations for an embalmers license shall be fixed 
by the board and notice in writing of the time and place thereof shall 
be given by the board, at least 15 days prior to said date, to approved 
embalming colleges within the State, to applicants for such examination 
and to all organizations within the funeral industry who shall have made 
written request for such notification. 
No person shall be permitted to take such examination unless he 
shall have filed in the Sacramento office of the board, at least five days 
prior to the date of such examination, an application upon a form pro- 
vided by the board. 
Rule 2 
Applicants for an examination for embalmer’s license shall be 
permitted to take such examination after they have completed their 
embalming college course, notwithstanding that they may not, at such 
time, have completed their embalming apprenticeship and in the event 
of passing such examination the embalmer’s license shall be withheld 21 
until apprenticeship has been served in full and all other requirements 
of the law complied with. 
Provided, however, that for the duration of the present war, any 
student in an approved embalming college, who after having completed 
not less than 50 per cent of the required embalming college course enters 
the armed services of the United States before the completion of the 
prescribed course of such college, shall upon application therefor be 
permitted by the State Board to take an examination for an embaliner’s 
license and in the event of passing such examination the embalmer’s 
license shall be withheld until all requirements of the law have been 
complied with. 
Rule 3 
Embalming schools and colleges shall be approved by the board 
at the first meeting of the board after the first day of March of each 
year. Any embalming school or college desiring approval by the board 
shall make application therefor not less than 10 days preceding the 
first day of March of each year, and no embalming school or college 
shall be approved unless such application shall have been made. When 
the circumstances warrant, the board may consider applications for 
such approval even though made subsequent to the time herein specified. 
Accompanying each such application shall be the catalogue, prospectus 
or other schedule describing the course or courses of study of the appli- 
cant and the time devoted to each subject. A concise description of 
school facilities shall also be furnished. 
Provided that when a student has registered in a school that has 
been approved by the board, such student shall be permitted to take 
the examination notwithstanding that such college may thereafter not 
have the board’s approval. 
Rule 4 
Applicants for examination will be checked into the examination 
room alphabetically and by photograph. No applicant expecting to 
return will be allowed to leave the examination room within an interval 
of 30 minutes after the distribution of the questions nor thereafter 
unless accompanied by a watcher. No more than three examinees 
expecting to return may leave the examination room at any one time. 
All books, parcels, etc., must be deposited at the door of the 
examination room, and during the examination no applicant will be 
permitted to have on the table whereon he is writing any paper or 
other object than the examination questions, an examination tablet, a 
blotter, pen and ink, eraser and a watch. 
Rule 5 
Each applicant for examination will furnish his own pen and ink. 
The board will furnish blotters and examination tablets. The appli- 
cant will occupy the same table or desk throughout the examination. 
The board will furnish a suitable and adequate number of watchers 
for each examination. 22 
Rule 6 
Smoking is not permitted in the examination room while an exami- 
nation is being conducted, and this rule will apply not only to the 
examinees, but to the watchers, members of the board, and all other 
persons. 
Rule 7 
When seated in the examination room, each applicant will receive 
an identification envelope, wherein he will find a printed slip of paper, 
and thereon he will write his name and address in the space provided, 
specifying thereon where mail may reach him within one month after 
the date of the examination. Any change of this address must be 
forwarded to the board office at Sacramento. Applicant will return 
said slip to the identification envelope and seal said envelope, which 
will thereupon be collected by one of the watchers. 
The questions of the first subject of the examination will be dis- 
tributed as soon as the identification envelopes have been collected. 
The number on the identification envelope thus furnished shall be 
inscribed by the applicant upon each examination tablet, together with 
the date of examination and subject of the examination. 
Rule 8 
Applicants will not be permitted to hold communications, verbal 
or otherwise, with any other person than a watcher while the exami- 
nation is in progress. Any disturbance on the part of an applicant 
will disqualify such applicant and he will be required to leave the 
examination room. 
Rule 9 
The time to be allotted to each subject of the examination shall 
be indicated on written instructions furnished to each examinee with 
the respective examination papers. Immediately upon completion of 
an examination subject, the applicant will leave the room, depositing 
his examination tablet in a box provided by the board, and located at 
the exit of the examination room. 
Rule 10 
After the examination has been completed, the examination papers 
shall be examined and marked and the resultant grades in the several 
subjects, as well as the average grade of each applicant, shall be 
arrived at and determined by the board. To constitute a passing grade, 
an applicant must receive an average mark of not less than 75 per 
cent on all subjects; provided, that where the applicant has received 
a mark of less than 60 per cent in more than one subject, such appli- 
cant shall not be passed notwithstanding his average mark may be 
higher than 75 per cent. 
Rule 11 
After examination papers have been graded, same shall be returned 
to the Sacramento office of the board, where they shall be kept for a 
period of one year, after which period they may be destroyed. 23 
ARTICLE Y 
Rule 1. Calendar of Cases 
RULES OF PROCEDURE BEFORE THE BOARD 
The secretary shall before each board meeting, prepare a calendar 
of all matters to come before the board at such meeting, but the board 
shall not be limited by such calendar and may hear and consider other 
matters not on such calendar, and failure or neglect to have a matter 
placed upon such calendar shall not deprive the board of the authority 
to hear and consider any case or matter so omitted. 
Rule 2. Hearings to Be Public 
All formal hearings of the board shall be open to the public, but 
the board may, when it deems such procedure proper, go into private 
session for the purpose of discussing any complaint or matter before 
it, or for the purpose of reaching a decision upon a matter submitted, 
but no evidence shall be taken upon a formal hearing in any such 
private session except that the board may, in such private session, 
study and examine any evidence properly taken at a public hearing. 
Rule 3. Reinstatement of Licenses 
Whenever application is made for reinstatement of a license 
which has previously been suspended or revoked upon disciplinary 
grounds by the board, no such reinstatement shall be granted by the 
board until the expiration of not less than 30 days after the receipt 
of such application by the board. 
Upon the receipt of any such application by the board, the sec- 
retary shall forthwith cause notice thereof to be sent to such State- 
wide associations or groups of board licensees as may be in existence 
in the State and to such other persons, associations or groups as the 
secretary may deem advisable. 
Rule 4 
Section 7704 of the Business and Professions Code provides that 
violation of any State law or municipal or county ordinance or regu- 
lation affecting the handling, custody, care or transportation of dead 
human bodies constitutes a ground for disciplinary action by the 
board. Proof of such violation in any proceeding before the board 
may consist of a certified record of a court or other proper tribunal 
having jurisdiction of the matter involved in the particular case. 
ARTICLE YI 
Rule 1 
GENERAL RULES 
A placard upon which Rule 7 of Article II of these rules shall be 
printed must be fastened to the exterior of all doors of preparation 
and embalming rooms in every funeral establishment. 24 
Rule 2 
Any funeral director failing to comply with the provisions of 
Rule 1 of this Article VI, shall be subject to disciplinary action by 
the board. 
Rule 3 
The certificate of compliance required by subdivision (d) of Sec- 
tion 7680 of the Business and Professions Code shall be displayed con- 
spicuously in the place of business or employment of the licensee in 
proximity to the license certificate of such licensee. 
Rule 4 
The board may at any time in its discretion waive, suspend or amend 
any rule herein set forth. CALIFORNIA LAWS REGULATING LICENSED FUNERAL 
DIRECTORS AND EMBALMERS 
HEALTH AND SAFETY CODE 
(Effective as of August 4, 1943) 
DIVISION 1. ADMINISTRATION OF PUBLIC HEALTH 
PART 1. STATE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH 
Chapter 1. Organization 
100. There is in the State Government a State Department of 
Public Health. 
101. The department shall consist of the State Board of Public 
Health, the State Director of Public Health and such divisions as are or 
may be necessary for the prevention of disease, the prolongation of life 
and the promotion of the physical health and mental efficiency of the 
people of the State. 
102. The State Board of Public Health consists of the Director of 
Public Health and seven other members. The board shall advise the 
director in the performance of his duties and formulate general policies 
affecting public health. It shall have power to adopt, promulgate, repeal 
and amend rules and regulations consistent with law for the protection 
of the public health. It shall issue licenses and permits as prescribed 
by law and by rules and regulations of the board. It may hold hearings 
and subpena witnesses and documents pursuant to Section 353 of the 
Political Code. The board shall have no administrative or executive 
functions other than those set forth in this code. 
PART 2. LOCAL ADMINISTRATION 
Chapter 1. Health Officers and Ordinances 
450. The board of supervisors of each county shall adopt orders 
and ordinances necessary for the preservation of the public health 
in the unincorporated territory of the county, not in conflict with gen- 
eral laws, and provide for the payment of all expenses incurred in 
enforcing them. 
Article 3. County Health Ordinances and Officers 
453. Each board of supervisors shall appoint a health officer, 
who is an employee and not a county officer, unless otherwise pro- 
vided by charter. 
(25) 26 
452. The comity health officer shall enforce and observe in the 
unincorporated territory of his county, all of the following: 
(a) Orders and ordinances of the board of supervisors, pertain- 
ing to the public health and sanitary matters. 
(b) Orders, quarantine regulations, and rules prescribed by the 
State Department of Public Health. 
(c) Statutes relating to public health. 
453. Each county health officer shall report to the State depart- 
ment all violations of the State health laws that come to his attention. 
DIVISION 7. DEAD BODIES 
PART 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS 
Chapter 1. Definitions 
7000. The definitions in this chapter apply to this division and to 
Divisions 8 and 9 of this code. 
7001. “Human remains” or “remains” means the body of a 
deceased person, and includes the body in any stage of decomposition 
and cremated remains. 
7002. “Cremated remains” means human remains after incinera- 
tion in a crematory. 
7003. “Cemetery” means any one, or a combination of more than 
one, of the following, in a place used, or intended to be used, and 
dedicated, for cemetery purposes : 
(a) A burial park, for earth interments. 
(b) A mausoleum, for crypt or vault interments. 
(c) A crematory, or a crematory and columbarium, for cinerary 
interments. 
7004. “Burial park” means a tract of land for the burial of 
human remains in the ground, used or intended to be used, and dedi- 
cated, for cemetery purposes. 
7005. Except in Part 5 of Division Bof this code, “mausoleum” 
means a structure or building for the entombment of human remains 
in crypts or vaults in a place used, or intended to be used, and dedi- 
cated, for cemetery purposes. 
7006. “Crematory” means a building or structure containing one 
or more furnaces for the reduction of bodies of deceased persons to 
cremated remains. 
7007. Except in Part sof Division Bof this code, “columbarium” 
means a structure, room, or other space in a building or structure con- 
taining niches for inurnment of cremated human remains in a place 
used, or intended to be used, and dedicated, for cemetery purposes. 7008. “Crematory and columbarium” means a building or struc- 
ture containing both a crematory and columbarium. 
7009. “Interment” means the disposition of human remains by 
cremation, inurnment, entombment, or burial. 
7010. “Cremation” means the reduction of the body of a deceased 
person to cremated remains in a crematory and the placement of the 
cremated remains in a grave, vault, or niche. 
7011. “Inurnment” means placing cremated remains in an urn 
and placing it in a niche. 
7012. “Entombment” means the placement of human remains 
in a crypt or vault. 
7013. “Burial” means the placement of human remains in a 
grave. 
7014. “Grave” means a space of ground in a burial park, used, 
or intended to be used, for burial. 
7015. “Crypt” or “vault” means a space in a mausoleum of 
sufficient size, used or intended to be used, to entomb uncremated 
human remains. 
7016. “Niche” means a space in a columbarium used, or intended 
to be used, for inurnment of cremated human remains. 
7017. “Temporary receiving vault” means a vault used or 
intended to be used for tlie temporary placement of human remains. 
7018. “Cemetery authority” includes cemetery association, cor- 
poration sole, or other person owning or controlling cemetery lands 
or property. 
7019. “Cemetery corporation,” “cemetery association,” or “cem- 
etery corporation or association,” mean any corporation now or here- 
after organized which is or may be authorized by its articles to conduct 
any one or more or all of the businesses of a cemetery, but do not 
mean or include a corporation sole. 
7020. “Cemetery business,” “cemetery businesses,” and “cem- 
etery purposes” are used interchangeably and mean any and all busi- 
ness and purposes requisite to, necessary for, or incident to, establish- 
ing, maintaining, operating, improving, or conducting a cemetery 
interring human remains, and the care, preservation, and embellish- 
ment of cemetery property. 
7021. “Directors” or “governing body” means the board of 
directors, board of trustees, or other governing body of a cemetery 
association. 7022. “Lot,” “plot,” or “interment plot” means space in a 
cemetery, used or intended to be used for the interment of human 
remains. Such terms include and apply to one or more than one 
adjoining graves, one or more than one adjoining crypts or vaults, or 
one or more than one adjoining niches. 
7023. “Plot owner,” “owner,” or “lot proprietor,” means any 
person in whose name an interment plot stands of record as owner, in 
the office of a cemetery authority. 
7024. A “burial permit” is a permit, issued pursuant to law, for 
the interment of human remains. 
Chapter 2. General Provisions 
7050. In matters relating to communicable diseases, the State 
department may make and enforce regulations for the embalming, cre- 
mation, interment, disinterment and transportation of the dead. 
7051. Every person who removes any part of any human remains 
from any place where it has been interred, or from any place where it 
is deposited while awaiting interment, with intent to sell it or to dis- 
sect it, without authority of law, or from malice or wantonness, is 
punishable by imprisonment in the State prison for not more than five 
years. 
7052. Every person who mutilates, disinters, or removes from the 
place of interment any human remains without authority of law, is 
guilty of felony. This section does not apply to any person who 
removes the remains of a relative or friend for reinterment. 
7053. Every person who arrests, attaches, detains, or claims to 
detain any human remains for any debt or demand, or upon any pre- 
tended lien or charge, is guilty of a misdemeanor. 
7054. Every person who deposits or disposes of any human 
remains, in any place within the corporate limits of any city, or city 
and county, except in a cemetery, is guilty of a misdemeanor. 
7055. Every person, who for himself or for another person, inters 
or incinerates a body or permits the same to be done, or removes any 
remains, from the primary registration district in which the death or 
incineration occurred or the body was found, except a removal by a 
funeral director in a funeral director’s conveyance from that registra- 
tion district to another registration district in the same or another 
county, without the authority of a burial or removal permit issued by 
the local registrar of the district in which the death occurred or in 
which the body was found; or removes interred human remains from 
the cemetery in which the interment occurred; or removes cremated 
remains from the premises on which the cremation occurred without 
the authority of a removal permit is guilty of a misdemeanor and 
punishable as follows: (a) for the first offense by a fine of not less than ten dollars ($10) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500), (b) for 
each subsequent offense by a fine of not less than fifty dollars (SSO) 
nor more than five hundred dollars ($500) or imprisonment in the 
county jail for not more than 60 days, or by both. 
Chapter 3. Custody, and Duty of Interment 
7100. The right to control the disposition of the remains of a 
deceased person, unless other directions have been given by the dece- 
dent, vests in, and the duty of interment and the liability for the 
reasonable cost of interment of such remains devolves upon the fol- 
lowing in the order named: 
(a) The surviving spouse. 
(b) The surviving child or children of the decedent. 
(c) The surviving parent or parents of the decedent. 
(d) The person or persons respectively in the next degrees of 
kindred in the order named by the laws of California as entitled to 
succeed to the estate of the decedent. 
The liability for the reasonable cost of interment devolves jointly 
and severally upon all kin of the decedent in the same degree of kin- 
dred and upon the estate of the decedent. 
7101. When any decedent leaves an estate in this State, the rea- 
sonable cost of interment and an interment plot of sufficient size to con- 
stitute a family plot and memorial, including reasonable sums for 
either, or both, general and special perpetual care of the plot pro- 
portionate to the value of the estate and in keeping with the standard 
of living adopted by the decedent prior to his demise, together with 
interest thereon from the date of interment, shall be considered as a 
part of the funeral expenses of the decedent and shall be paid as a 
preferred charge against his estate as provided in the Probate Code. 
If a claim for an interment plot or memorial is rejected the bur- 
den of proving that the cost of the interment plot or memorial is 
disproportionate to the value of the estate and the standard of living 
adopted by the decedent while living shall be upon the executor or 
administrator rejecting the claim. This chapter does not prohibit any 
relative or friend of a decedent from assuming the duty or paying the 
expense of interment. 
7102. When a person is charged by law with the duty of interment 
he is entitled to the custody of the remains for the purpose of inter- 
ment; except that in any case where a coroner is required by law to 
investigate the cause of death, the coroner is entitled to the custody of 
the remains of the person whose death is the subject of investigation 
until the conclusion of the autopsy or medical investigation by the 
coroner. Any person in whose possession such remains are found, 
shall, upon demand by the coroner, surrender such remains to him. 
7103. Every person, upon whom the duty of interment is imposed 
by law, who omits to perform that duty within a reasonable time is 
guilty of a misdemeanor. In addition, he is liable to pay to the person performing the duty in his stead treble the expenses incurred by the 
latter in making the interment, to be recovered in a civil action. 
7104. When no provision is made by the decedent, or where the 
estate is insufficient to provide for interment and the duty of inter- 
ment does not devolve upon any other person residing in the State or 
if such person can not after reasonable diligence be found within the 
State the person who has custody of such remains may require the cor- 
oner of the county where the decedent resided at time of death to take 
possession of such remains and he shall inter the same in the manner 
provided for the interment of indigent dead. 
7105. If the person vested with the duty of interment fails, 
refuses or neglects within a reasonable time after death of the decedent 
to make such interment, a cemetery authority having possession of the 
remains, or any relative of the decedent, may file a petition in the 
superior court in the county in which the decedent resided at the 
time of his death, or in which the remains are located, naming as defend- 
ant the person vested with the duty of interment and seeking an order 
of the court directing the defendant to make interment of the remains. 
If no person residing in the State vested with the duty of making 
interment is known to the petitioner, or if such person after reasonable 
diligence can not be found within the State, and that fact appears 
from the petition, the petitioner may make the coroner of the county 
in which the petition is filed the party defendant. 
7106. A cemetery authority may seek an order providing for the 
interment of the remains of one or more decedents. Where a proceed- 
ing is commenced involving the remains of more than one decedent 
the allegations of the petition shall separately state the facts as to 
each, and the court may make a separate order as to each. 
7107. Notice of the time and place of the hearing on the petition 
shall be given as the court may direct. Upon the hearing the court 
shall make its order providing for the interment of the remains in 
such manner, at such time, and at such place as the court may deter- 
mine to be just and proper, and for the best interests of the public 
health. 
7108. If the coroner is directed to make such interment he shall 
make it in the manner provided by law for the interment of the indi- 
gent dead. 
7109. The court shall allow costs and reasonable attorney’s fees 
against all defendants, other than the coroner. 
7110. Any person signing any authorization for the interment of 
any remains warrants the truthfulness of any fact set forth in the 
authorization, the identity of the person whose remains are sought to 
be interred, and his authority to order interment. He is personally 
liable for all damage occasioned by or resulting from breach of such 
warranty. 7111. A cemetery authority may make an interment of any 
remains upon the receipt of a written authorization of a person repre- 
senting himself to be any of the following: 
(a) The surviving spouse. 
(b) A surviving child or parent. 
(c) The next of kin. 
(d) A person who has acquired the right to control the disposition 
of the remains. 
A cemetery authority is not liable for cremating or making an 
interment pursuant to such authorization, unless it has actual notice 
that such representation is untrue. 
7112. No action shall lie against any cemetery authority relating 
to the cremated remains of any person which have been left in its 
possession for a period of five years, unless a written contract has been 
entered into with the cemetery authority for their care or unless per- 
manent interment has been made. 
Nothing in this section shall be construed as an extension of the 
existing statute prescribing the period within which an action based 
upon a tort must be commenced. No licensed funeral director shall 
be liable in damages for any cremated human remains after the remains 
have been deposited with a cemetery in the State of California. 
Chapter 4. Disposal of Unclaimed Dead 
7200. Every head of a public institution, city or county under- 
taker, or State, county, or city officer having charge or control of 
remains to be interred at public expense shall use due diligence to 
notify the relatives of the decedent. In the absence of any known 
relative of decedent desiring to direct the disposition of the remains 
in a manner other than in this chapter provided, and upon written 
request of the State department that such notices are required for a 
definite period specified in the request, such officer shall notify the 
State department by telegraph collect, immediately after the lapse 
of 24 hours after death, stating, whenever possible the name, age, sex, 
and cause of death of the decedent. 
7201. The person in charge of a public" institution in which the 
decedent was an inmate shall transmit upon request, to the State 
department or to any person designated by it, a brief medical history 
of the unclaimed dead for purpose of identification and permanent 
record, which records shall be open to inspection by any State or county 
official or prosecuting attorney. 
7202. The unclaimed dead retained by the State department for 
scientific or educational purposes shall be embalmed and disposed of in 
accordance with the instructions of the State department. Such 
unclaimed dead shall be held for a period of 30 days by those to whom 
they may have been assigned for scientific or educational purposes, 
subject to claim and identification by any authenticated relative of the 
decedent for purpose of interment or other disposition in accordance 
with the directions of such relative. 7203. The bodies of the unclaimed dead retained by the State 
department shall be used solely for the purpose of instruction and study 
in the promotion of medical, chiropractic, and embalming education and 
science within the State. 
7204. All persons receiving unclaimed dead for educational pur- 
poses shall bear all reasonable expense incurred in the preservation and 
transportation of the dead and shall keep a permanent record of bodies 
received, giving the identification number, the name, age, sex, national- 
ity, and race, if possible, together with the place of last residence of the 
decedent and the source and disposition, with dates, of the body. 
7205. It is unlawful for any person, unless specifically authorized 
by law, to hold a post mortem examination of any unclaimed dead with- 
out the express permission of the State department. 
7206. Any person authorized by law to perform post mortem 
examinations shall permit, with the consent of relatives, or in the 
absence of such relatives, with the consent of the State department, any 
representative of the anatomical or pathological departments of an 
incorporated medical, chiropractic, or osteopathic school or college to 
obtain at the time of the necropsy, such material in a recent state as may 
be needed for scientific purposes, if the material is not required for the 
legal purposes of the State. 
7207. Whenever, through the failure of any person to notify the 
State department, or promptly to deliver the body of a deceased indi- 
gent as required by the State department, such body becomes unfit for 
scientific or educational purposes, the State department shall so certify 
and the remains shall be interred at the expense of those guilty of such 
noncompliance. 
7208, Every person who unlawfully disposes, uses, or sells the 
body of an unclaimed dead person, or who violates any provision of 
this chapter is guilty of a misdemeanor. 
Chapter 5. Embalming and Transportation 
7300. No person shall embalm a body of any person who has 
died from an unknown cause, except with the permission of the local 
health officers. 
Article 1. Embalming 
7301. No embalmer shall embalm a dead human body when he has 
information reasonably indicating crime in connection with the death 
until permission of the coroner, or a justice of the peace, if there is no 
coroner, has been obtained. 
7302. Every funeral director and embalmer shall immediately 
report to the local health officer every contagious case on which the 
funeral director or embalmer may be called. 
7303. No embalming fluid or methods of embalming disapproved 
by regulation of the State department shall be employed by any person in the case of deaths from contagious, infectious, or communicable 
diseases, or in cases where the body is to be transported upon a public 
conveyance for interment or cremation within this State or for trans- 
portation to a point without the State. 
No embalming fluids shall be used in embalming which: 
(a) Contain heavy mineral or metallic substances which have a 
poisonous effect, such as arsenic and mercury; 
(b) Contain less than 10 per cent formaldehyde gas. 
Every person who violates the provisions of this section shall be 
guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be punished by a fine of not less than 
ten dollars ($10) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500). 
Article 2. Transportation 
7350. It is unlawful for any common carrier, to receive for trans- 
portation any dead human body, unless the body has been prepared 
by a regularly licensed embalmer in accordance with the rules pre- 
scribed by the State department, and is accompanied by a yellow paster 
in a form approved by it. 
7351. The requirements prescribed in this article for the trans- 
portation of the dead shall be strictly observed, subject to such changes 
and modifications as the State department may require and direct. 
7352. The transportation into this State or from this State of 
bodies of persons who have died from plague, Asiatic cholera, yellow 
fever, typhus fever, anthrax, glanders, or smallpox is prohibited. 
Such bodies shall not be transported within this State except by 
permission and under the direction of the State department, and subject 
also to the conditions provided in Section 7353. 
7353. The bodies of persons who have died of Asiatic cholera, 
smallpox, yellow fever, diphtheria, membranous croup, scarlet fever 
(scarlatina, scarlet rash), erysipelas, glanders, anthrax, or leprosy, shall 
not be accepted for transportation unless prepared for transporta- 
tion by: 
(a) Arterial and cavity injection with a disinfecting fluid approved 
by the State department. 
(b) Disinfection and stopping of all orifices with absorbent cotton. 
(c) Washing the body with a disinfectant. 
The body shall be properly clothed, and placed in either: 
(a) An airtight metal-lined casket, all joints and seams hermeti- 
cally sealed, and all inclosed in a strong, wooden transportation case, or, 
(b) A wooden casket encased in a metal-lined transportation case, 
all joints and seams of the case being hermetically sealed. 
In the transportation of bodies dead from any disease named in 
this section, the body shall not be accompanied by persons or articles 
which have been exposed to the infection of the disease, unless certified 
by the health officer to have been properly disinfected. 
7354. The bodies of persons who have died from typhoid fever, 
puerperal fever, tuberculosis, measles, or any other contagious or infec- 34 
tious disease not enumerated in Sections 7352 and 7353, may be 
received for transportation when prepared for transportation by arterial 
and cavity injection with an approved disinfecting fluid, and by wash- 
ing the exterior of the body with an approved disinfecting fluid. The 
body shall be properly clothed. If the body can not reach its destina- 
tion within 90 hours from the time of death it shall be placed in a 
wooden casket inclosed in a hermetically sealed metal-lined transporta- 
tion case, or in an airtight metal or metal-lined casket inclosed in a 
wooden transportation case. 
7355. The bodies of persons who have died from any cause not 
stated in nor covered by other provisions of this article, shall not be 
received for transportation by a common carrier unless the body has 
been embalmed and prepared by a licensed embalmer, and placed in a 
sound casket and inclosed in a wooden transportation case. 
Chapter 6. Burial and Removal Permits 
7400. Whenever the State Department of Public Health so orders, 
no burial permit shall be issued until after the body has been inspected 
by the department or its representative. 
7401. Except as provided in the next section, the body of any 
person whose death occurs in this State, or whose body is found in the 
State, or which is brought in from outside the State, shall not be 
interred, deposited in a vault or tomb, cremated, disinterred or other- 
wise disposed of, or removed from or into any registration district, or 
temporarily held pending further disposition more than five days after 
death, unless a permit for burial, removal, or other disposition is issued 
by the local registrar of the registration district in which the death 
occurred or the body was found, or by the county recorder of the county 
in which the district is located. The county recorder shall mail, within 
24 hours, the original death certificate to the local registrar. 
7402. This chapter does not prevent a funeral director from 
removing a body from the registration district where the death occurred 
or the body was found to another registration district in the same or 
another county in a funeral director’s conveyance for the purpose of 
preparing the body for interment or shipment. 
7404. If death occurred from any disease held by the State depart- 
ment to be infectious, contagious, or communicable, and dangerous to 
public health, the body shall not be removed without first securing per- 
mission of the local health officer. 
7405. No burial or removal permit shall be issued by any registrar 
until, wherever practicable, a complete and satisfactory certificate of 
death has been filed with him, except that when a dead body is trans- 
ported from outside the State into a registration district in California 
for interment, the transit or removal permit, issued in accordance with 
the law and health regulations of the place where the death occurred, 
shall be accepted by the local registrar of the district into which the body has been transported, as a basis upon which he may issue a local 
burial permit, noting upon the face of the burial permit the fact that 
it was a body shipped in for interment and the place of death. 
7406. No person shall inter in any cemetery any human body 
unless (a) there has been obtained and filed with the local registrar of 
the city or county where the death occurred, a certificate, signed by a 
physician, or a coroner, setting forth as near as possible, the name, age, 
color, sex, place of birth, occupation, date, locality and the cause of 
death of the decedent, and (b) he has obtained from the local registrar 
a burial permit. 
7407. A burial permit issued in one county or city is valid and 
sufficient in any county it specifies as the place of interment and shall 
be issued in duplicate. Further permit for interment shall not be 
required, but any county interment fees required by law or ordinance 
shall be paid. 
7410. No person in charge of any premises on which interments 
or cremations are made shall inter or permit the interment or cremate 
or permit the cremation or other disposition of any body unless it is 
accompanied by a burial or cremation permit. 
7411. The person in charge shall sign the permit, indorse upon 
it the date of interment or cremation, and return all permits so indorsed 
to the local registrar of his district within 10 days from the date of 
interment or cremation. 
7412. If any cemetery is located partly in one registration district 
and partly in another, only one permit shall be required for interment 
and a permit authorizing interment in such cemetery shall entitle inter- 
ment to be made within or without the district to which such permit 
is directed. Such permit shall be returned to the registration district 
in which the interment is made irrespective of the district to which it 
is directed. The local registrar of the district in which such interment 
is made shall forthwith file such permit on presentation without charge. 
PART 2. DISINTERMENT AND REMOVAL 
Chapter 1. General Provisions 
Article 1. Permits 
7500. No remains of any deceased person sliall be removed from 
any cemetery, except upon written order of the health department 
having jurisdiction, or of the superior court of the county in which 
such cemetery is situated. A duplicate copy of the order shall be 
maintained as a part of the records of the cemetery. Any person 
who removes any remains from any cemetery shall keep and maintain 
a true and correct record showing: 
(a) The date such remains were removed. 
(b) The name and age of the person removed, when these par- 
ticulars can be conveniently obtained and the place to which the 
remains were removed. 36 
(c) The cemetery and the plot therein in which such remains 
were buried. 
If the remains are disposed of other than by interment, a record 
shall be made and kept of such disposition. The person making the 
removal shall deliver to the cemetery authority operating the ceme- 
tery from which the remains were removed, a true, full and complete 
copy of such record. 
7501. A cemetery authority shall not remove or permit the 
removal of any interred remains, unless a permit for the removal has 
been issued by the local registrar of the district in which the premises 
are located, and delivered to the cemetery authority. Any person 
entitled by law to remove any remains may apply to the local regis- 
trar for a permit to remove them. The local registrar shall issue a 
permit, which in all cases shall specify the name of a cemetery where 
the remains shall be interred, and shall retain a copy, for which 
permit he shall receive a fee of fifty cents ($0.50) to be paid him by 
the applicant for the permit. 
7502. In the disinterment, transportation and removal of human 
remains under Chapter 4 of this part a cemetery authority need not 
obtain a separate permit for the disinterment, transportation or 
removal of the remains of each person, but disinterment, transporta- 
tion and removal of human remains shall be made subject to reason- 
able rules and regulations relative to the manner of disinterring, 
transporting or removing such remains as may be adopted by the 
board of health or health officer of the city or city and county in 
which the cemetery lands are situated. 
Article 2. Consent to Removal 
7525. The remains of a deceased person may be removed from a 
plot in a cemetery with the consent of the cemetery authority and the 
written consent of one of the following in the order named: 
(a) The surviving spouse. 
(b) The surviving children. 
(c) The surviving parents. 
(d) The surviving brothers or sisters. 
7526. If the required consent can not be obtained, permission by 
the superior court of the county where the cemetery is situated is 
sufficient. 
7527. Notice of application to the court for such permission shall 
be given, at least 10 days prior thereto, personally, or at least 15 days 
prior thereto if by mail, to the cemetery authority and to the persons 
not consenting, and to every other person or association on whom 
service of notice may be required by the court. 
7528. This article does not apply to or prohibit the removal of 
any remains from one plot to another in the same cemetery or the 
removal of remains by a cemetery authority from a plot for which the purchase price is past due and unpaid, to some other suitable 
place; nor does it apply to the disinterment of remains upon order of 
court or coroner. 
DIVISION 8. CEMETERIES 
PART 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS 
Chapter 1. Cemetery Defined 
8100. Six or more human bodies being buried at one place con- 
stitute the place a cemetery. 
Chapter 2. Vandalism 
8101. Every person is guilty of a misdemeanor and punishable 
by a fine of not less than twenty-five (25) nor more than five hundred 
dollars ($500), or by imprisonment for not exceeding six months, or 
by both, who unlawfully or without right wilfully does any of the 
following: 
(a) Destroys, cuts, mutilates, effaces, or otherwise injures, tears 
down, or removes: any tomb, monument, memorial, or marker in a 
cemetery, or any gate, door, fence, wall, post or railing, or any 
inclosure for the protection of a cemetery or any property in a 
cemetery. 
(b) Obliterates any grave, vault, niche, or crypt. 
(c) Destroys, cuts, breaks or injures any building, statuary, 
ornamentation, tree, shrub, or plant within the limits of a cemetery. 
(d) Disturbs, obstructs, detains or interferes with any person car- 
rying or accompanying human remains to a or funeral estab- 
lishment, or engaged in a funeral service, or an interment. 
8102. Any person violating any provision of this chapter is liable, 
in a civil action by and in the name~pf the cemetery authority, to pay 
all damages occasioned by his unlawful acts. The sum recovered shall 
be applied in payment for the repair and restoration of the property 
injured or destroyed. 
8103. The provisions of this chapter do not apply to the removal 
or unavoidable breakage or injury, by a cemetery authority, of any 
thing placed in or upon any portion of its cemetery in violation of any 
of the rules or regulations of the cemetery authority, nor to the removal 
of anything placed in the cemetery by or with the consent of the ceme- 
tery authority which has become in a wrecked, unsightly, or dilapidated 
condition. 
Chapter 3. Records 
8110. The person in charge of any premises on which interments 
or cremations are made shall keep a record of all remains interred or 
cremated and of the interment of remains on the premises under his 
charge, in each case stating the name of each deceased person, place of 
death, date of interment, and name and address of the funeral director. 
8111. The records shall at all times be open to official inspection. 38 
8112. When making an interment in a cemetery having no person 
in charge, the funeral director shall sign the burial or removal permit, 
giving the date of interment, and shall write across the face of the per- 
mit the words “No person in charge,” and file the burial or removal 
permit within 10 days with the registrar of vital statistics of the dis- 
trict in which the cemetery is located. 
Article 5. Operation of Crematories 
8340. No crematory shall conduct, or shall hereafter be con- 
structed, established, or authorized to conduct, any business unless 
there is in connection therewith in the same fireproof building or struc- 
ture or in a separate fireproof building within the same cemetery, 
either: 
(a) A columbarium amply equipped for the interment of remains 
of bodies cremated at the crematory, or 
(b) A burial park or mausoleum in which the cremated remains 
may be interred. 
8341. All cremated remains not removed for interment elsewhere 
shall be interred in a plot within a reasonable time after cremation. 
DIVISION 9. VITAL STATISTICS 
Chapter 1. General Provisions 
10000. The State Department of Public Health is charged with 
the uniform and thorough enforcement of this division throughout the 
State, and may promulgate additional regulations for its enforcement. 
10001. All certificates of birth or of death shall be written legibly, 
in durable black ink, and a certificate is not complete and correct that 
does not supply all of the items of information called for, or satisfac- 
torily account for their omission. 
10002. All physicians, midwives, informants, funeral directors, 
clergymen, or judges, and all other persons having knowledge of the 
facts, shall supply, upon the forms provided or upon the original certi- 
ficate, such information as they may possess regarding any birth, death, 
or marriage upon demand of the State registrar, in person, by mail, or 
through the local registrar. 
10003. No certificate of birth, death, or marriage, after its accept- 
ance for registration by the local registrar or county recorder, and no 
other record made in pursuance of this division, shall be altered or 
changed in any respect, except where supplemental information 
required for statistical purposes is furnished. 
10008. Every person in charge of a hospital, almshouse, lying-in 
or other institution, public or private, to which persons resort for 
treatment, confinement, or are committed by process of law, shall make 
a record of the personal and statistical particulars relative to the 
inmates thereof sufficient and adequate for the completion of a birth 
or death certificate. 39 
10010. Every person who sells a casket except to a dealer or 
funeral director shall keep a record showing the name of the purchaser, 
his post-office address, name of decedent, and date and place of his 
death. This record shall be open to inspection of the State registrar 
at all times. On the first day of each month the person selling caskets 
shall report on a blank provided for the purpose, to the State registrar 
each sale in the preceding month. Persons selling caskets to dealers 
or funeral directors only are not required to keep such record. The 
report is not required from funeral directors when they have direct 
charge of the disposition of the body of a deceased person. 
10011. Every person selling a casket at retail, and not having 
charge of the disposition of the body of a deceased person shall inclose 
within the casket a notice furnished by the State registrar calling 
attention to the requirements of the law, a blank certificate of death, 
and the rules and regulations of the State department concerning the 
interment or other disposition of human remains. 
10116. If any certificate of death is incomplete or unsatisfactory, 
the local registrar shall call attention to the defects in the certificate 
and withhold the burial or removal permit until the defects are cor- 
rected. 
10118. He shall make a complete and accurate copy of each birth 
certificate and each death certificate registered by him and preserve 
them permanently in his office as the local record. 
10120. Under the supervision and direction of the State registrar, 
each local registrar is hereby charged with the strict and thorough 
enforcement of the provisions of this division in his registration dis- 
trict. He shall make an immediate report to the State registrar of 
any violation of this law coming to his knowledge. 
Article 8. Registration of Stillborn Children 
10325. A stillborn child shall be registered upon a certificate of 
stillbirth as prescribed by the State department, and shall be filed with 
the local registrar, in the same manner as that prescribed for a certifi- 
cate of death. 
10327. A certificate of stillbirth is not required for a child that 
has not advanced to the fifth month of uterogestation. 
10328. The medical certificate of the cause of stillbirth shall be 
signed by the attending physician, if any, and shall state the cause of 
the stillbirth if known. 
10329. A burial or removal permit of the prescribed form is 
required. 
10330. Midwives shall not sign certificates of stillbirth; but such 
cases, and stillbirths occurring without attendance of either physi- 
cian or midwife, shall be treated as deaths without medical attendance. 40 
Chapter 4. Death Registration 
Article 1. General Provisions 
10350. Every death occurring in this State shall be reported 
pursuant to this chapter. 
Article 2. Death Certificates 
10375. The certificate of death shall contain the following items, 
and such other items as the department may designate: 
(I) Full name of decedent. If an unnamed child the surname 
preceded by ‘ ‘ Unnamed. ’ ’ 
(2a) Place of death, including State, county, and township, village 
or city. If in a city, the street and house number; if in a hospital or 
other institution, its name shall be given instead of the street and house 
number; if in an industrial camp, the name of the camp shall be given. 
(2b) Length of residence: (al in place of death; (b) in Califor- 
nia; (e) in the United States if of foreign birth. 
(3) Usual residence of deceased, including State, county, and 
township, village or city, and if a city, the street and house number. 
(4) Sex. 
(5) Color or race. 
(6a) Conjugal condition—as single, married, widowed or divorced. 
(6b) Name of husband or wife. 
(7) Date of birth, including the year, month, and day. 
(8) Age, in years, months and days. If less than one day, the 
hours and minutes. 
(9) Birthplace; at least State or foreign country, if known. 
(]0) The occupation of any person, male or female, who had any 
remunerative employment shall be reported, with the statement of trade, 
profession or particular kind of work. 
(II) General industry or business in which -work was done. 
(12) Full name of father. 
(13) Birthplace of father; at least State or foreign country, if 
known. 
(14) Maiden name of mother. 
(15) Birthplace of mother; at least State or foreign country, if 
known. 
(16) Name and address of informant. 
(17) Whether burial in ground, entombment, cremation or 
removal; and date of such interment. 
(18) Signature and license number of embalmer; signature and 
address of funeral director, or person acting as such. 
(19) Official signature of registrar, with date when certificate was 
filed; registered number. 
(20) Date of death; year, month and day. 
(21) Certification as to medical attendance on decedent, fact and 
time of death, time last seen alive, and the cause of death, with contrib- 
utory (secondary) cause of complication, if any, and date of onset or 
duration of each. (22) Certification as to action of the coroner when compelled to 
act by law, stating kind of action taken, whether inquest, autopsy or 
inquiry, and the fact and cause of death. 
(23a) If death is due to accidental or violent means, it shall be 
stated as to whether accident, suicide or homicide; date of injury; 
place of injury, whether in home, industry or public place; manner 
and nature of injury. 
(23b) Whether or not disease or injury is related to occupation. 
(24) Signature and address of attending physician, or the sig- 
nature of the coroner, with the statement of the county of which he 
is an officer. 
10377. The statement of facts relating to the disposition of the 
body shall be signed by the funeral director or person acting as funeral 
director. 
Article 3. The Medical Certificate 
10400. The medical certificate shall be made and signed by the 
physician, if any, last in attendance on the deceased except in the 
following cases: 
(a) Where the attending physician is unable to state the cause 
of death. 
(b) Where a person has been killed or has committed suicide. 
(c) Where death is the result of an accident. 
(d) Where an injury is a contributing cause of death. 
(e) Where the death occurred under such circumstances as to 
afford a reasonable ground to suspect that it was caused by the crim- 
inal act of another. 
10401. The physician shall within 15 hours after the death 
deposit the certificate at the place of death, or deliver it to the attend- 
ing funeral director at his place of business or at the office of the 
physician. 
10402. The physician shall specify in the certificate the time in 
attendance, the time he last saw the deceased person alive and the hour 
of the day at which death occurred. 
10403. The physician shall state the cause of death, so as to show 
the course of disease or sequence of causes resulting in the death, giving 
first the name of the disease causing death (primary cause) and the 
contributory (secondary) cause, if any, and the duration of each. 
10404. Indefinite and unsatisfactory terms, denoting only symp- 
toms of disease or conditions resulting from disease, are not sufficient 
for the issuance of a burial or removal permit. Any certificate con- 
taining only such terms, as defined by the State registrar, shall be 
returned to the physician or person making the medical certificate for 
correction and more definite statement. 
10405. Causes of death which may be the result of either disease 
or violence shall be carefully defined; and if from violence, the means of injury shall be stated, and whether (probably) accidental, suicidal, 
or homicidal. 
Article 4. Duties of Coroner 
10425. The certificate of death shall be made by the coroner in 
case of any death occurring under any of the following circumstances: 
(a) Without medical attendance. 
(b) During the continued absence of the attending physician. 
(c) Where the attending physician is unable to state the cause of 
death. 
(d) Where the deceased person was killed or committed suicide. 
(e) Where the deceased person died as the result of an accident. 
(f) Under such circumstances as to afford a reasonable ground to 
suspect that the death was caused by the criminal act of another. 
10426. The physician, funeral director, or other person in charge 
of the body shall notify the coroner or other proper official of such 
death for investigation and certification. 
10427. The coroner or other proper officer whose duty it is to 
hold an inquest on the body of any deceased person, and to make the 
certificate of death required for a burial permit, shall: 
(a) State in his certificate the name of the disease causing death, 
or if from external causes (1) the means of death; and (2) whether 
(probably) accidental, suicidal, or homicidal. 
(b) Furnish such information as may be required by the State 
Registrar in order properly to classify the death. 
Upon the issuance of the death certificate and burial permit the 
cemetery authority may proceed with the interment. 
10428. The certificate shall contain as many facts required by 
this division as can be ascertained. 
10429. The coroner shall within three days after examining the 
body deliver the death certificate to the attending funeral director. 
Article 5. Duties of Funeral Directors 
10450. The funeral director, or person acting as funeral director, 
shall file the certificate of death with the local registrar of the district 
in which the death occurred and obtain an interment or removal permit 
prior to any disposition of the body. 
10451. He shall obtain the required personal and statistical par- 
ticulars from the person best qualified to supply them, and the name 
and address of his informant. 
10452. The death certificate shall be signed by the attending 
physician, if any, or by the coroner or other proper official either 
directly or as directed by the local registrar, giving the medical certifi- 
cate of the cause of death and other particulars necessary to complete 
the record. 43 
10453. The funeral director shall state the facts required relative 
to the date and place of interment or removal, over his signature and 
with his address. 
10454. The completed certificate shall be presented to the local 
registrar in order to obtain a permit for interment, removal or other 
disposition of the body. 
Article 6. Burial and Removal Permits 
10475. If the certificate of death is properly executed and com- 
plete, the local registrar shall issue a permit for removal or interment, 
which in all cases shall specify the name of a cemetery where the 
remains shall be interred, except that in case the death occurred from a 
disease declared by the State department to be infectious, contagious, or 
communicable and dangerous to the public health, no permit for the 
removal or other disposition of the body shall be issued by the registrar, 
except under such conditions as may be prescribed by the State depart- 
ment and local boards of health. 
10476. The funeral director shall deliver the burial permit to the 
person in charge of the place of interment, before interring or otherwise 
disposing of the body; or shall attach the removal permit to the box 
containing the body, when shipped by any transportation company. 
10477. The burial or removal permit shall accompany the body to 
its destination, where, if within this State, it shall be delivered to the 
person in charge of the place of interment. 
Article 7. Procedure on Identification of Bodies of 
Unknown Persons 
10500. If the body of an unknown person is identified after filing 
the death certificate, the coroner having jurisdiction shall file with the 
State registrar a death certificate giving the name of the person and all 
statistical particulars which have been discovered concerning him. 
10501. The certificate shall be filed with the original record and 
shall become a part of it. 
Chapter 6. Certified Copies op Records 
10550. The State or local registrar shall, upon request and pay- 
ment of the required fee, supply to any applicant a certified copy of the 
record of any birth, death, or marriage registered with him. 
10551. Any photostatic copy of the record of a birth, death, or 
marriage, or a copy, properly certified by the State or local registrar to 
have been registered within a period of one year from the date of the 
event is prima facie evidence in all courts and places of the facts stated 
in it. 44 
Chapter 7. Correction of Record 
]0575. Whenever the facts are not correctly stated in any cer- 
tificate of birth, death, or marriage, already registered, the local regis- 
trar shall require an affidavit under oath to be made by the person 
asserting that the error exists, stating the changes necessary to make the 
record correct, and supported by the affidavit of one other credible per- 
son having knowledge of the facts. 
10576. The local registrar shall file the affidavits with an amended 
certificate and shall note the fact of the amendment with its date on 
the margin of the otherwise unaltered original certificate. 
Chapter 5. Miscellaneous Penal Provisions 
24800. Every person charged with the performance of any duty 
under the laws of this State relating to the preservation of the public 
health, who wilfully neglects or refuses to perform the same, is guilty 
of a misdemeanor. 
PENAL CODE REFERENCES 
563 e. Any person who wilfully and knowingly makes, circulates 
or transmits to another or others any statement or rumor, written, 
printed or by word of mouth, which is untrue in fact and is directly 
or by inference derogatory to the financial condition or affects the 
solvency or financial standing of any cemetery, cemetery authority or 
cemetery corporation, doing business in this State, or who knowingly 
counsels, aids, procures, or induces another to start, transmit or circu- 
late any such statement or rumor, is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable 
by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000) or by impris- 
onment for not more than one year, or both. (Penal Code, Section 
563 e.) 
642. Every person who wilfully and maliciously removes and 
keeps possession of and appropriates for his own use articles of value 
from a dead human body, the theft of which articles would be petty 
theft is guilty of a misdemeanor, or if the theft of the articles would be 
grand theft, a felony. This section shall not apply to articles removed 
at the request or direction of one of the persons enumerated in Section 
7111 of the Health and Safety Code. (Penal Code, Section 642.) 
1510. When a coroner is informed that a person has been killed, 
or has committed suicide, or has suddenly died under such circum- 
stances as to afford a reasonable ground to suspect that his death has 
been occasioned by the act of another by criminal means, he must go to 
the place where the bod}7, is, cause it to be exhumed if it has been 
interred, and make an investigation and if the circumstances warrant it 
he shall hold an inquest and summon not less than nine nor more than 
15 persons, qualified by law to serve as jurors, to appear before him 
forthwith, either at the place where the body of deceased is, or at some 
other convenient place within the county to be designated by the coro- 
ner, at his discretion, or at the request of the district attorney to inquire 45 
into the cause of the death. No such person is exempt from jury duty 
except at the discretion of the coroner. No person shall be summoned 
as juror who is related to the decedent or is charged with or suspected 
of the killing, nor shall anyone be summoned who is known to be preju- 
diced for or against him, but no person selected or summoned to appear 
as a juror is subject to be challenged by any party. (Penal Code, 
Section 1510.) 
Whenever the coroner takes custody of a dead body as required 
by law, he may embalm the body and charge and collect from the 
person entitled to custody of the body the sum of fifteen dollars ($l5) 
except in those cases in which the body is that of a child not more 
than 14 years of age or of a person for whose burial there is available 
a sum less than seventy-five dollars ($75), in which cases no fee 
shall be charged and the expense of embalming the body shall be a 
county charge; provided that in any county where the coroner is 
paid a salary, the fees paid under the terms of this section shall be 
paid into the county treasury. (Political Code, Section 4300 h.) 
POLITICAL CODE REFERENCE 
FOR THE INFORMATION AND GUIDANCE OF ALL FUNERAL 
DIRECTORS, WE QUOTE THE FOLLOWING RULES: 
LOS ANGELES COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT 
“It shall be unlawful for any funeral director or other person to 
use, or cause or permit to be used, any vehicle other than a hearse 
or mortuary car for conveyance of any dead human body, except that 
of stillborn infant or of an infant not over one year of age dead of 
other than a communicable disease, and except when a patient dies 
en route. The use of any ambulance as a mortuary car or hearse, or 
the use of a mortuary car as an ambulance, is specifically forbidden.” 
SAN FRANCISCO COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTM ENT—ORDI NANCE 
NO. 17 131 (PRIVATE AMBULANCE ORDINANCE) 
Section 6—Subdivision 2 
The term “ambulance” shall not be used or displayed on any 
vehicle or conveyance, public or private, unless used to move a sick 
or injured person. 
Subdivision 3 
No vehicle or conveyance which will in any manner be used or 
shall be used for the removal or conveyance of the dead shall be used 
as an ambulance. 
24752 7-43 3M