such as washings from manured lands or 
connections with other drains. Neither a 
town nor a cemetery association has any 
right, by contract or otherwise, to author- 
ize the pollution of a stream. (Barrett vs. 
Mount Greenwood Cemetery Association, 
159 111. 385, decided January 20, 1896.) 
E.XEMPTIONS FROM TAXATION. 
An Illinois statute exempting from taxa- 
tion "all lands used as grave-yards or 
grounds for burying the dead’ could not 
be construed as exempting a separate lot 
adjoining a cemetery, purchased, held and 
used, not for burial purposes, but for the 
office and residence of the custodian of 
the grounds, although the lot contained a 
well supplying w^ater for use on the 
grounds. Laws exempting favored classes 
of property from taxation must be strictly 
interpreted. ( Bloomington Cemetery Assn, 
vs. People, 170 111. 377, decided December 
22, 1897.) 
A special legislative charter of a ceme- 
tery corporation provided that all property 
held and actually used by the company for 
burial purposes, and for the general uses 
of lot holders or subservient to burial 
uses, and which had been platted and re- 
corded as cemetery grounds, should be 
exempt from taxation. The company had 
ground in actual use for cemetery pur- 
poses, and other lands separated therefrom 
by a highway, which were platted and re- 
corded as cemetery lands, but not used as 
such. The company had erected on the 
latter lands a stable and some houses, oc- 
cupied by men in its employment. The 
lands were used as a source of supply for 
mold and sand used in improving the 
grounds actually in use for burials. Under 
these circumstances it was decided that the 
last-mentioned lands were not exempt from 
taxation. (People vs. Graceland Cemetery 
Co., 86 III. 336, decided in 1877.) 
The following abstract of the provisions 
of the general statutes of Illinois relating 
to cemeteries is submitted to readers of 
Park and Cemetery with the double view 
that it will be useful for preservation by 
Illinois cemetery men for future reference, 
and at the same time afford an interesting 
study of cemetery legislation by readers 
throughout the several states. 
The compiler has attempted to cover all 
important statutes now in force, including 
those enacted at the 1917 session of the 
Illinois Legislature, but excluding special 
laws relating to particular cemeteries. 
PRIVATE COMPANIES. 
Rev. Stat. 1913, p. 565. — Provides for the 
■organization of private corporations for 
pecuniary profit, including “organizations 
for the purchase and sale of real estate 
for burial purposes only.” A cemetery 
■company organized under this statute is 
governed by general corporation statutes, 
■the provisions of which are too numerous 
and voluminous to permit even summariz- 
ing here. It is believed, however, that a 
pamphlet copy of the Illinois Corporation 
Law can be obtained on application to the 
Secretary of State at Springfield. 
PARK AND CEMETERY 
CEMETERY ASSOCIATIONS. 
Rev. Stat. 1913, pp. 160-163, as amended 
by 1917 session laws. — “Any six or more 
persons may organize a Cemetery Asso- 
ciation, to be owned, managed and con- 
trolled in the manner hereinafter pro- 
vided.” 
"Whenever six or more persons shall 
present to the Secretary of State a petition 
setting forth that they desire to organize 
a Cemetery Association under this act, 
to be located in (here insert the county) 
and that said Cemetery Association shall 
be known by the name and style of (here 
insert the name of the association), the 
Secretary of State shall issue to such per- 
sons and their successors in trust, a certifi- 
cate of organization, which said certificate 
. . . shall be in perpetuity and in trust for 
the use and benefit of all persons who may 
acquire burial lots in said cemetery.” 
The recipients of the certificate must file 
it for record in the recorder's office of the 
county in which the cemetery is organized. 
Recording constitutes the association “a 
l)ody corporate under the name adopted, 
and in its corporate name may sue and be 
sued.’’ 
The charter members must select from 
their own number a board of trustees of 
not less than six nor more than ten mem- 
bers. The trustees elect from their own 
membership a president, vice president and 
treasurer, and also a secretary, “who may 
or may not be a member of said board, in 
their discretion.” These officers hold office 
for one >’ear, and until their successors 
are duly elected and qualified. The 
original trustees must, by lot, divide 
themselves into two classes, the first hold- 
ing office for three years, and the second 
for six years. Thereafter the term of all 
trustees is six years. On expiration of a 
trustee’s term of office, or on his resigna- 
tion, death, removal from office or removal 
from the state, the remaining trustees, or 
a majority of them, must notify the coun- 
ty judge in writing, and he is required to 
make an appointment to fill the vacancy. 
In making such appointments, the judge 
must select two-thirds of the trustees from 
suitable persons residing within fifteen 
miles of the cemetery, and the other ap- 
pointees may be suitable persons interested 
in the association through family inter- 
ments or otherwise who are citizens of the 
state. 
Associations may “acquire the necessary 
amount of land for the use of said ceme- 
tery association which said land may be 
acquired by purchase or by gift,” and may 
“receive by gift, devise, or bequest any 
property, either real, personal or mixed, 
which may be donated to such association 
and to hold and keep inviolate any such 
property for the use of said cemetery asso- 
ciation” ; and “may receive and administer 
endowments for the care of such cemetery 
or any part thereof.” (As amended by 
Laws 1917, p. 219.) 
An organized association may divide and 
lay out into lots any real estate which it 
271 
may acquire, the lots to be of suitable size 
for burial lots. The plat must be recorded 
with the county recorder. The association 
“shall have the right to sell to any person 
or persons a lot or lots in said cemetery 
for burial purposes only, and to convey to 
such person or persons said lot by proper 
deed of conveyance.’’ 
The cemetery treasurer “shall from time 
to time loan any money which said asso- 
ciation may have and which is not needed 
for the immediate use of said association, 
taking proper security.”. Before a loan is 
valid, it and the security must be approved 
by the board of trustees. 
No officer or trustee shall receive com- 
pensation for his services, except that the 
secretary “may receive such salary as may 
be fixed by the Board of Trustees." 
“No dividends shall be declared or paid 
to any officer or other person from the 
funds of said Cemetery Association, but 
the same shall be kept inviolate and to be 
used only for purposes of said association 
and the care, preservation and ornamenta- 
tion of said cemetery.” 
"The board of trustees shall, once in 
every year, and oftener if required by the 
county court, make a full report of all 
money and other property received by the 
association and of all endowments being 
administered by the association, and of all 
outstanding loans. On approval of the 
report by the county judge, it is recorded 
in the court. On disapproval of the report, 
the county judge may require a true and 
correct report. If the trustees fail to 
make it, or to properly account for asso- 
ciation funds, the county judge must direct 
the state’s attorney to institute suit against 
the trustees, or such of them as are re- 
sponsible for any misappropriation or 
wrongful use of funds to recover the 
amount of money so misappropriated or 
wrongfully used.” (As amended by Laws 
1917, p. 219.) 
Any trustee may be removed by the 
county judge for misconduct, and any trus- 
tee “who shall convert any funds of such 
association to his own use, or to a use 
other than that intended, shall be guilty of 
embezzlement and punished accordingly.’’ 
(As amended by Laws 1917, p. 220.) 
The board of trustees “may make any 
and all rules and regulations for the man- 
agement of said association not inconsist- 
ent with this act, and may require that 
the treasurer . . . give bond for the safe 
keeping of any money and other property 
that may come into his hands.” 
Existing cemetery associations may 
transfer their property to an association 
organized under this act. 
“The property, both real and personal, 
of any association organized under this 
act shall be forever exempt from taxation 
for any and all purposes.” 
An association organized under the act 
“shall be a public corporation, for the pur- 
pose of burial ground and cemetery busi- 
ness only.” 
An association “which shall have ac- 
