Concealing a Corpse: Obstacles and Legal Implications
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Themes
Concealing corpse, statute of limitations, criminal law, homicide, cadaver discovery, penal code, criminal procedure, corpse concealment, intentional offense, criminal jurisprudence
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Abstract
This document discusses the legal aspects of concealing a corpse, including the statute of limitations, material and moral elements, and conflicts of qualification with other offenses.
Extract
[...] The statute of limitations As for concealing a corpse, the statute of limitations does not begin to run until the day when the concealment ceased. In fact, this solution was first clarified by case law, before being consecrated by Article 9-1 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. When the statute of limitations is breached, the person in question can no longer be prosecuted. B. Conflicts of qualification There is a need to consider conflicts of qualification with the offenses that punish a homicide, whether voluntary or not, or with the offense of 'violences having led to death without the intention of giving it'. [...]
[...] Thus, various procedures have been recognized as constituting the material act of corpse concealment: clandestine burial, dissolution of the body by a chemical process. B. The moral element The concealment of a corpse is an intentional offense. Firstly, the person in question must be aware that the corpse is that of a person who has been the victim of homicide or fatal injuries. Then, it is necessary that the person in question has the consciousness as well as the will to conceal or hide this corpse. [...]
