Parker v. QUINN-McGOWEN COMPANY

Upon the death of a husband or a wife, the surviving spouse has the primary right to the custody of the body for burial as well as the preparation therefor. Lamm v. Shingleton, 231 N.C. 10, 55 S.E. 2d 810; Kyles v. R. R., 147 N.C. 394, 61 S.E. 278; 15 AM. JUR., Dead Bodies § 9 (1938). Our law recognizes that the next of kin has a quasi-property right in the body —not property in the commercial sense but a right of possession for the purpose of burial' — -and that there arises out of this relationship to the body an emotional interest which should be protected and which others have a duty not…