Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Related legal acts

Key definition

Disputes definition

What does Disputes mean? In legal practice, disputes are disagreements giving rise to potential legal rights and remedies between parties, addressed through dispute resolution including litigation, arbitration and ADR such as mediation and negotiation. The term is descriptive rather than a defined statutory concept; the substantive rights and procedures arise from statute and common law. Typical features include identification of the cause of action, applicable limitation periods, choice of jurisdiction and forum, compliance with pre-action protocols or pre-action correspondence, disclosure/discovery, evidence, settlement, costs and enforcement. Usage is broadly consistent across England & Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland, though civil procedure differs: CPR in England...

Disputes about disposal of human remains: entitlement, personal representatives, court powers and practical issues (burial, cremation, exhumation, timing, ceremonies and transport) in England and Wales

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Practice notes

This considers the legal Rules engaged when parties are in civil dispute over the disposal of a deceased person’s body, including transporting the body out of the jurisdiction, the timing and method of disposal, and the ceremonies to be observed. Unsurprisingly, the emotions involved in such disagreements are often intense.

Entitlement to possession of a corpse

In English law, as Kay J stated in Williams v Williams, ‘there can be no property in the dead body of a human being’. Consequently, any direction in the deceased’s Will instructing the executors to hand the body to another individual had no effect. Generally, the same approach applies to body parts, as affirmed in R v Kelly, although that case acknowledged exceptions. As a general statement, the principle that a corpse cannot be owned remains sound. Rather than rights comparable to property in chattels, entitlement to possess a human body is governed by special rules. Those rules address the disposal of the body and govern what may...

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Jonathan Edwards

Radcliffe Chambers

Jonathan Edwards practises at Radcliffe Chambers in Lincoln’s Inn. He specialises in contested probate, claims to trust and estate assets, claims for partnership and estate accounts, property litigation including landlord and tenant, and insolvency and commercial disputes.He is regularly instructed to represent clients in the High Court and County Court, and has been instructed to assist with proceedings in Jersey. Cases in which he has acted include Taylor v Taylor [2017] EWHC 1080 (Ch) and Burki v Seventy Thirty Limited [2018] EWHC 2151 (QB)....

Web page updated on 27/05/2026

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