Public Health Law § 4218 · Title 2. Autopsy and Dissection
Opening graves
Text — Law content up to date as of October 9, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
§ 4218. Opening graves. A person who opens a grave or other place of interment, temporary or otherwise, or a building wherein the dead body of a human being is deposited while awaiting burial, without authority of law, with intent to remove the body, or any tissue, organ or part thereof, for the purpose of selling it or demanding money for the same, or for the purpose of dissection, or from malice or wantonness, or with intent to steal or remove the coffin or any part thereof, or anything attached thereto, or any vestment, or other article interred, or intended to be interred with the dead body, is guilty of a class D felony.
Source of truth
- Edition
- Law content up to date as of October 9, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
- Official file
- https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/laws/PBH4218
- Text hash
- sha256 8f9f12d695516d0d27a5098043ee9f4110079121d7789be8f426146254dd69b8
- Composed by
- gen_ny_statutes.py 2026-11-10: the Senate's Open Legislation law tree (GET /api/3/laws/<ID>?full=true) read in document order; the Senate's PDF of the whole law (GET /pdf/laws/<ID>?full=true), read with PDFium, prints the same words in the same order
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.