It was named the most absurd law in Great Britain, but there’s a certain logic behind it:
…the reason people are banned from dying in parliament is that it is a Royal palace.
Nigel Cawthorne, author of The Strange Laws of Old England, said: “Anyone who dies there is technically entitled to a state funeral.
“If they see you looking a bit sick they carry you out quickly.”
(Gary Cleland, “Don’t die in parliament, it’s the law”, Daily Telegraph, Nov. 6).
And for readers here in America, happy Thanksgiving, and see you after the holiday.
2 Comments
I now understand the logic of this famous strange law. As always, money.
Why not repeal the regulation mandating a royal paid funeral for dying on royal property? If I die in a restaurant or at a friend’s home, no one owes me a funeral.
Who would want a British government funeral anyway?
This passage warns, do not look pale, nor pass out on any royal property. You will be tossed out to the curb, and the elements, immediately. Who knows how long one waits for an ambulance from the National Health Service, or if they even have any.
I believe the law was originally put in place to allow for the provision of funeral services to foreign dignitaries who died on a visit to to the UK (and were generally housed in royal property).
At the time shipping the corpse back home would have been impossible (it would have decomposed too much on arrival), and a pauper’s funeral is not suitable for a foreign dignitary.