The Reason Behind the Rules: The Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 and Scientific Study

What are the federal agencies’ powers under the Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979 (ARPA) to limit or control the scientific study of archaeological materials? The research for this article has led to an ultimate conclusion that ARPA does not provide federal agencies with the power to limit the scope of scientific study on covered archaeological materials. No provision of ARPA provides federal agencies with the authority to act as scientific dictators with ARPA-covered archaeological materials

How Do We Deal With All The Bodies? A Review of Recent Cemetery and Human Remains Legal Issues

The law of the dead is now precipitating a lively debate in the legal community. Scandals are increasingly rocking the death care industry, an industry enjoying greater attention with the aging Baby Boom generation. Regulators and attorneys now must address an array of issues that revolve around death. And the law of the dead is a unique animal. It is neither property nor health care; real estate nor contract; yet it has elements of each of those areas of the law, as well as environmental law, zoning, and general torts, but it lies comfortably in none of these fields entirely. This hybrid area of the law can be confusing for those who do not often practice the law of the dead, as many of the odd realities surrounding corpses has led to unique jurisprudence. What do you do when a cemetery is in the path of your development project? Are we so strapped for burial space that people need to bury loved ones in their suburban yards? How do you protect yourself as an employer when an employee has sex with a corpse on the job? All of these questions and more are included in this review and analysis of the recent jurisprudence of the dead that will serve as a primer for anyone dealing with the law of the dead

Leasing from the Dead: Production in Cemeteries and Other Curious Corners of Louisiana Mineral Law

As an attorney in charge of all legal matters related to minerals, lands, and the environment for the State, quite a few odd, interesting, and obscure issues come across my desk. This paper is intended to provide a brief review of several of the largely unknown, but fairly important, legal matters that are addressed by the State with respect to mineral matters and to provide guidance to practitioners that should assist in an understanding of these matters for future dealings with the State

Final Vestiges of Existence: The Survival and Protection of Cemeteries as Landscapes of Grieving and Cultural Memory in Louisiana

In many contexts, cemeteries are an afterthought, both in terms of their design and situation in the landscape as well as in terms of what to do when they are encountered during development or other activities. How these sites have been managed and treated, at least historically, often has been a function of who is buried in them. In such situations, considerations regarding the preservation or protection of marginalized peoples’ final resting places were often nonexistent and, consequently, these sites were violently erased from the landscape. Indeed, archaeological evidence has recently demonstrated substantial deviations in practice from de jure legal protections that often appear to occur along class and racial lines. Such acts of landscape structural violence in the New Orleans area are the subject of this dissertation. Through a review of archival sources, archaeological evidence, and legal mandates, including federal legislation like NAGPRA, this research examines the evolution of cemetery site protections in Louisiana over time, in part to track the ebbs and flows of de jure versus de facto cemetery protections as well as the causation for divergences of these categories. Recent cemetery protection laws can be effective tools for unmarked cemeteries, especially when coupled with ancient concepts of land use. However, these legal protections must be coupled with effective community involvement to correct the history of unequal treatment of cemeteries in the past

How Do We Deal With All The Bodies? A Review of Recent Cemetery and Human Remains Legal Issues

The law of the dead is now precipitating a lively debate in the legal community. Scandals are increasingly rocking the death care industry, an industry enjoying greater attention with the aging Baby Boom generation. Regulators and attorneys now must address an array of issues that revolve around death. And the law of the dead is a unique animal. It is neither property nor health care; real estate nor contract; yet it has elements of each of those areas of the law, as well as environmental law, zoning, and general torts, but it lies comfortably in none of these fields entirely. This hybrid area of the law can be confusing for those who do not often practice the law of the dead, as many of the odd realities surrounding corpses has led to unique jurisprudence. What do you do when a cemetery is in the path of your development project? Are we so strapped for burial space that people need to bury loved ones in their suburban yards? How do you protect yourself as an employer when an employee has sex with a corpse on the job? All of these questions and more are included in this review and analysis of the recent jurisprudence of the dead that will serve as a primer for anyone dealing with the law of the dead