JustBlazed

This question came to me after driving by a cemetary on my lunch break from work and there were a bunch of guys digging a new grave. I thought to myself, "I wonder if those guys have ever robbed a corpse". Then I wondered to myself if *I* would do it in a particular situation (I'm not giving my answer just yet) and then it ultimately led to me starting this thread to find out how ya'll would respond to my certain situations.

Let's look at a few different scenarios....

1. There has just been a major diseaster in whatever country you live in, bodies strewn throughout the streets. You pass a body of a man who is wearing a large gold necklace and many diamonds/gold pieces on his fingers. You realize you may be able to barter for food rations with the jewelry because your country is going to be suffering for quite some time, do you take it from the dead man?

2. You're a grave digger and learn that the richest woman in town recently died. You have gotten "insider information" that she will be buried with her engagement ring her oil tycoon husband bought for her that is worth over $1 million USD. YOU are the one that will seal the inturnment. A few hours have passed after the funeral service, it is getting dark and there is no one else around. Would you take the ring from the woman before shoveling dirt on her casket?

3. A man tries to mug you. In the ensuing struggle, he is stabbed with the weapon he garnished in the heart on accident....he keels over and dies instantly in front of you. You notice a wad of cash sticking out of his pocket of what you perceive to be $5,000 USD from all the other muggings he had done that day. Would you take the money from the dead man who just tried to rob you?

Are your answers more related to desperation? (Scenario 1) How about how much money you could make? (Scenario 2 vs. 3)

Please justify your actions for my particular scenarios as to why or why not.....and if you think of your own in a situation where you WOULD steal from the dead, I would love to hear it.

figuer

I wouldn't consider it stealing, just taking something attached to a piece of flesh.

If anything it would be stealing from the heirs. But this hardly applies to the examples given.

JustBlazed

You think a judge would go for this as a defense if one was caught in the act?

Beren

He meant morally, not legally. Legal systems are based on this weird idea that something exists after death for you.

David B

I wouldn't expect a judge to view it as anything other than theft from the heirs.

I suppose - I think this is true of Britain, anyway - that if no heirs can be found, the state invokes heirdom on itself, in law.

David B (might, under some circumstances, deem himself a more desirable heir than the state)

JamesBannon

No problems with scenario 1. Seems a reasonable thing to do.

Scenario 2 I wouldn't do it. Seems a touch dishonest to me although I don't really see the harm since the ring is just going to rot anyway. Still, it does seem dishonest.

Scenario 3 I definitely wouldn't do it. I'd be in enough trouble trying to explain how the guy ended up with a knife in the chest let alone being found with his money on me!

Queen of Swords

If the body is exhumed later - say, there's suspicion she was poisoned with arsenic - the lack of a ring might be noticed.

figuer

Since the ring was worth a million dollars, one could be far away in some non extradiction paradise, (or rapidly scape).

The family would have to present hard evidence that it was really buried inside the casket, like a film of the entire process from the clossing to the interment.

His Noodly Appendage

There's nothing immoral about any of the cases - unless the heirs would have been likely to claim the items themselves.

llanitedave

I would never steal from the dead. Now if we could work out a loan arrangement...