Let’s say I want a small tattoo, non-obscene, added to an arm after I die. Would it be legal for this to happen?
I should add that this has nothing to do with whether someone would say “Sure thing, Bub!” but never follow through. This only about whether the action itself is legal.
What type of law would you think would apply? One about defacing dead bodies? My guess is that most states have such a law, none of them contemplated a post-mortem decorative tattoo, and the actual wording of each law is different.
Fwiw, i was able to find laws in my state against trafficking in corpes and defacing gravestones, but not against defacing corpses. Since taxidermy… I mean embalming corpses is common, my guess is that laws are fairly lenient regarding what you can do to a corpse, and that a tattoo (with the permission of the heirs) would generally not be prohibited.
off-topic
Forget legality think of practicality. You’re dead therefore your skin is dead, how is it supposed to absorb and hold ink?
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I couldn’t find a law against it in my state (Montana), but lets say it is against the law in your state. You order and pay for the tattoo before you die, and you don’t tell anyone else about it. After-the-fact, somehow “the authorities” find out about it. Who are they going to prosecute? The tattoo artist?
Yes. They might be able to prosecute under laws against what is typically labeled as “abuse of a corpse” in various legal systems.
Having a written contract would probably prevent anyone from prosecuting you, but that’s more of an IMHO topic as it gets into legal opinions.
I’m sure it depends on jurisdiction, but there are places where it is legal to donate your body to an artist the same way you would for scientific research or organ harvest.
Just last week Gunther von Hagens, the plastination man, died:
I think his oeuvre shows that in most jurisdictions you can do way more than simply tattoo a dead body and controversy will ensue, but no legal consequences.
I don’t think this, or any laws about unauthorized defacing of the body, apply even slightly to the situation I am talking about.
Then haven’t you just answered your own question?
Uh…no?
Then how could what you described possibly not be legal?
I am not making a statement-I am asking a question as to whether having a tattoo authorized by me to my own body after I die is allowed by law.
Unless some prosecutor calls it defacement of a corpse, almost certainly not. Do you want us to prove a negative?
No. I am just asking if there currently are any laws concerning the matter.
Um, okay. Is there any particular reason why you think it might be illegal? Mortuaries have all sorts of cosmetic things done to a corpse; how is a tattoo any different?
Look it up in the laws of your state.
I’m not sure of your home state or I’d search it out for you.
Shouldn’t be difficult to find. Laws are normally open to the public.