# Can a dead person be stolen from? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 8, 2013, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dead-person-be-stolen-from/668315 "2013-09-08T06:12:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![IMfez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f07891/32.png) [@IMfez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IMfez)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2013, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dead-person-be-stolen-from/668315/1 "2013-09-08T06:12:51Z")
Let’s say I’m walking down the streets of detroit and happen across a dead body. Can I legally take his clothes and other valuables? If not what laws am I breaking? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2013, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dead-person-be-stolen-from/668315/2 "2013-09-08T06:40:27Z")
You would be committing theft against his estate. ---
**Author:** ![txcwaste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d78d45/32.png) [@txcwaste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txcwaste)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2013, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dead-person-be-stolen-from/668315/3 "2013-09-08T06:50:57Z")
And I’m pretty sure if you see that dead body and don’t report it then you’re the suspect or an asset in the way that person died. Just maybe. ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2013, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dead-person-be-stolen-from/668315/4 "2013-09-08T07:44:01Z")
There may be a specific charge for interfering with a corpse - or there may be other names for it… because is - is upsetting to the community (especially relatives and friends of the deceased) - interferes with police , etc, investigations (evidence of a crime, cause of death, identity , etc) - could be where something may have been stolen, eg cash from the wallet. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2013, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dead-person-be-stolen-from/668315/5 "2013-09-08T16:54:12Z")
When a person dies, what he owns becomes his estate. Once the estate is disposed of, it becomes property of his heirs. If the body is still lying in the street, I presume the executor has not finished with reading the will and the disposition of the estate, so you are stealing from the estate, and ultimately from the heirs etc. It’s never open season on the corpse’s goods. The charge (Canadian one is “indignity to a dead body”, IIRC) relates to dumping a dead guy in the trash bin, tossing him in the ditch on a country road, or something like that, even if he died of natural causes. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2013, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dead-person-be-stolen-from/668315/6 "2013-09-08T17:24:24Z")
So we can’t take the dead guys shoes? Darn it. He won’t be using them anymore anyhow. 😃 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dead-person-be-stolen-from/668315/7 "2013-09-09T00:30:15Z")
And leave those coins on his eyes too! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dead-person-be-stolen-from/668315/8 "2013-09-09T04:24:58Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > The charge (Canadian one is “indignity to a dead body”, IIRC) relates to dumping a dead guy in the trash bin, tossing him in the ditch on a country road, or something like that, even if he died of natural causes. It also includes having sex with a dead woman. ---
**Author:** ![turtlescanfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@turtlescanfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/turtlescanfly)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dead-person-be-stolen-from/668315/9 "2013-09-09T04:32:18Z")
Need answer fast? ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dead-person-be-stolen-from/668315/10 "2013-09-09T04:58:55Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > You would be committing theft against his estate. Does the estate of a dead person legally exist as a legal entity before the person has been declared legally dead and/or before the Executor is is appointed? In a similar way, can an unborn child in the womb or a hypothetical future child be stolen from? E.g. if I set aside some property that is to belong to my brother’s firstborn child, and I later change my mind and take the stuff back before any kids come into existence, but then a kid later _does_ come, can the kid have me nailed for theft, or was the property never theirs to begin with? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dead-person-be-stolen-from/668315/11 "2013-09-09T05:13:05Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > In a similar way, can an unborn child in the womb or a hypothetical future child be stolen from? E.g. if I set aside some property that is to belong to my brother’s firstborn child, and I later change my mind and take the stuff back before any kids come into existence, but then a kid later _does_ come, can the kid have me nailed for theft, or was the property never theirs to begin with? IANAL but I would speculate that there is no problem here. You might have said you were going to give something to the potential child when it was born but you changed your mind before the child existed. So there was never any transfer of ownership - you still owned the property at the time you changed your mind. It would probably be a different issue if you had said you were giving something to a child and then you changed your mind when they were a week old - in that case they’re be a legal argument that the transfer of ownership had occurred and you no longer had the power to change your mind on its disposition. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dead-person-be-stolen-from/668315/12 "2013-09-09T17:30:28Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Does the estate of a dead person legally exist as a legal entity before the person has been declared legally dead and/or before the Executor is is appointed? The estate comes into existence at the moment the person dies; the paperwork is a formality. Determining the moment that a person dies can be a problem. Suppose a husband and wife, each with a different will, die in a fiery plane crash. Each leaves all their assets to the other. But in the event that the other is already dead, the husband’s assets go to his conniving daughter from a previous marriage and the wife’s assets go to her conniving crackhead uncle. Who gets the dough? If Bob died first, the scheming uncle, but if Jane died first, the devious daughter. This premise has given rise to many cheesy courtroom dramas. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dead-person-be-stolen-from/668315/13 "2013-09-09T17:52:52Z")
In the 1700’s in England, the big crime with graverobbing was the taking of stuff. Corpse-hounds who wanted them for dissection were careful to strip the body, leaving the shroud, clothing, and any jewelry. The “theft” of the body itself was not theft. The idea of stealing \*from \*a corpse predates the crime of disrespect for the dead. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2013, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dead-person-be-stolen-from/668315/14 "2013-09-09T18:06:49Z")
> [@bup](#): > > In the 1700’s in England, the big crime with graverobbing was the taking of stuff. Corpse-hounds who wanted them for dissection were careful to strip the body, leaving the shroud, clothing, and any jewelry. The “theft” of the body itself was not theft. > > The idea of stealing \*from \*a corpse predates the crime of disrespect for the dead. Really? What a quaint idea, people who would take a dead body and not the jewelry; what high standards they had back then. I’d like to see a cite on this. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dead-person-be-stolen-from/668315/15 "2013-09-10T01:46:17Z")
It’s not high standards; theft of anything worth 12 pence or more was the felony of grand larceny, which at that time was a [capital offence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Code#Capital_punishment). A body cannot be property, so stealing a body was not a felony. The offence of [interfering with a grave](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Body_snatching#Body_snatching_in_the_United_Kingdom) was a misdemeanour, and the body-snatcher wasn’t putting his neck on the line. ---
**Author:** ![Flywheel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dead-person-be-stolen-from/668315/16 "2013-09-10T04:18:30Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > And leave those coins on his eyes too! :mad: But I was about to write him a three-cent check! ---
**Author:** ![lawbuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@lawbuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawbuff)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dead-person-be-stolen-from/668315/17 "2013-09-10T14:05:33Z")
> [@IMfez](#): > > Let’s say I’m walking down the streets of detroit and happen across a dead body. Can I legally take his clothes and other valuables? If not what laws am I breaking? As a side idea, is identity theft of a person’s name, etc., permitted because the person is dead?? Is grave robbing not theft then?? Theft; No person shall deprive the owner… D) “Owner” means, unless the context requires a different meaning, any person, other than the actor, who is the owner of, who has possession or control of, or who has any license or interest in property or services, even though the ownership, possession, control, license, or interest is unlawful. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dead-person-be-stolen-from/668315/18 "2013-09-10T14:24:22Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Determining the moment that a person dies can be a problem. Suppose a husband and wife, each with a different will, die in a fiery plane crash. Each leaves all their assets to the other. But in the event that the other is already dead, the husband’s assets go to his conniving daughter from a previous marriage and the wife’s assets go to her conniving crackhead uncle. Who gets the dough? If Bob died first, the scheming uncle, but if Jane died first, the devious daughter. This premise has given rise to many cheesy courtroom dramas. This used to be an issue but isn’t anymore. The Uniform Simultaneous Death Act has been adopted in some form in all 50 states and prescribes that if a husband and wife die within 120 hours of one another their estates are probated as though each predeceased the other. > [@lawbuff](#): > > As a side idea, is identity theft of a person’s name, etc., permitted because the person is dead?? > > Is grave robbing not theft then?? > > Theft; No person shall deprive the owner… > D) “Owner” means, unless the context requires a different meaning, any person, other than the actor, who is the owner of, who has possession or control of, or who has any license or interest in property or services, even though the ownership, possession, control, license, or interest is unlawful. A dead person no longer has legal personhood. The body, grave clothes and the like are property of the heirs. ---
**Author:** ![lawbuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@lawbuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawbuff)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dead-person-be-stolen-from/668315/19 "2013-09-10T14:37:44Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > A dead person no longer has legal personhood. The body, grave clothes and the like are property of the heirs. You mean there is AUTOMATIC transfer upon death, without operation of law? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2013, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dead-person-be-stolen-from/668315/20 "2013-09-10T14:40:40Z")
Well, you specified grave robbing. The body isn’t automatically transferred to a grave by operation of law either. 😉 Until the estate has been probated it all belongs to the estate. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dead-person-be-stolen-from/668315.md?page=2)