When the deceased body lies in a place inconvenient for holding a medical examiner’s inquiry, the medical examiner or coroner shall be allowed to remove the body to the autopsy room of the nearest public hospital or morgue. If neither the coroner nor the medical examiner is immediately available, the peace officer may assume the authority to have the body moved to such facility. When such facility is not reasonably available, the body may be removed to such other suitable place as may be designated by the coroner or the medical examiner or by the peace officer in charge in the absence of the coroner or medical examiner. If the peace officer in charge is present, no such body shall be removed until photographs of the body and surrounding premises have been made and a thorough investigation of the premises has been made by the proper investigating authorities.
History. Laws 1850, Cobb’s 1851 Digest, p. 540; Ga. L. 1862-63, p. 166, § 2; Code 1868, § 4039; Code 1873, § 4110; Code 1882, § 4110; Penal Code 1895, § 1269; Penal Code 1910, § 1351; Code 1933, § 21-206; Ga. L. 1953, Jan.-Feb. Sess., p. 602, § 7; Ga. L. 1960, p. 1009, § 5; Ga. L. 1985, p. 843, § 9; Ga. L. 1990, p. 1735, § 3.
History of Code section.
It appears that § 4110, which would be in the history of this section, was inadvertently left out of the 1882 Code.
Law reviews.
For annual survey on local government law, see 68 Mercer L. Rev. 199 (2016).
Structure Georgia Code
Title 45 - Public Officers and Employees
Article 2 - Death Investigations
§ 45-16-25.1. Releasing Remains of Deceased to Next of Kin; Exception
§ 45-16-28. Performance of Autopsy When Not Required Under Code Section 45-16-24
§ 45-16-29. Removal of Body Generally
§ 45-16-30. Transport of Body Across State Line
§ 45-16-33. Coroner to Make Inquest Upon Completion of Examination and Verification
§ 45-16-34. Issuance of Subpoenas; Administration of Oath to Witnesses
§ 45-16-36. Impaneling of Jury to Hold Inquest; Compensation of Jurors
§ 45-16-37. When Jury to Be Impaneled; Jury Not Required to View Body
§ 45-16-38. Issuance of Precept to Sheriff to Summon Inquest Jury; Form
§ 45-16-39. Oath for Foreperson and Jury of Inquest
§ 45-16-40. Coroner’s Charge to Jury; Power of Jury
§ 45-16-41. Defaulting Juror to Be Fined by Coroner
§ 45-16-42. Offering in Evidence of Results of Examination
§ 45-16-45. Authority of Coroners and Medical Examiners to Disinter Bodies
§ 45-16-47. Penalty for Violation of Article
§ 45-16-48. Coroner’s Employment of Court Reporter
§ 45-16-50. Providing Biological Substances to Canine Instructors or Schools
§ 45-16-51. Interment of Unidentified Human Remains; Disinterment for Identification