*462.* _Crime, Fraud, Exhume, Autopsy._—In an action on an insurance policy where there is evidence of fraud, as death by poison, a court may order a body exhumed for examination, although the person having the right to control the burial of the body is not a party to the suit.(814) Public officials have the right to disinter a body to ascertain whether a crime has been committed.(815) But without a coroner’s inquest or consent of the surviving consort or next of kin, a doctor has no right to perform an autopsy.(816) *463.* _Tort, Corpse._—The general rule is that an action of tort may be maintained by the widow or next of kin for the mutilation of a corpse or even for negligently exposing it to the elements.(817) In a few cases the right has been denied.(818) *464.* _Custodian, Burial, Mutilation._—In the absence of a widow, a son is the lawful custodian of the body of his deceased father for preservation, representation, and burial, and may maintain an action for unlawful mutilation thereof. The sense of outrage and mental suffering resulting directly from the wilful mutilation of the body of a parent, is a proper independent element of compensatory damages.(819) *465.* _Property in a Corpse, Mummy, Executors._—The question of property in a corpse has been generally denied. However, in case of a mummy which has become an object of curiosity, the case may be different. Where a testator ordered his body burned and the executor presented a bill for £321 for doing so, the court disallowed it on the ground that when a man is dead his next of kin or executors have the right to dispose of his body; but that as it is not property, a man has no right to bequeath it for a particular purpose.(820) Also, where a man was in jail and died during his imprisonment and the jailer refused to give up the body until the debt was paid, the court held that there was no property in the corpse, and therefore there could be no lien upon it and he must surrender it.(821) *466.* _Rights, Duties, Body, Will._—While there is no property in a dead body so that it may be sold, there are rights and duties out of which may arise tort and criminal actions. The question of the right of a man to dispose of his body by will is not well settled in this country.(822) There are many cases that hold that a person has the right to make a binding testamentary disposition of his own body after death.(823) But on the contrary it has been held that one can not by his will confer any right as to the disposition of his body.(824) *467.* _Monument, Fence._—Giving the right to bury in one’s cemetery lot carries with it the right to erect a monument; but it does not carry with it the right to fence the cemetery lot or interfere with other graves therein. Therefore, the monument must be of such size and so located and erected as not to interfere with the rights of others.(825)