Cemetery Companies Act

CHAPTER 63

OF THE

REVISED STATUTES, 1989


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An Act Respecting Cemetery Companies

Short title

1 This Act may be cited as the Cemetery Companies Act. R.S., c. 63, s. 1.

Formation of company

2 (1) Any number of persons, not less than ten, may form themselves into a company for the purpose of establishing, maintaining, conducting, managing or operating a public cemetery by signing their names to an instrument in the Form in the Schedule and by otherwise complying with the requirements of this Act.

Incorporation

(2) Where such persons

(a) subscribe for stock to an amount adequate to purchase or otherwise acquire the cemetery or the ground required for such a cemetery;

(b) pay to one of their number in trust an amount equal to twenty per cent of the stock so subscribed;

(c) execute an instrument in the Form in the Schedule; and

(d) register such instrument, together with a receipt from the person mentioned in clause (b) for the amount so paid to him, in the registry of deeds for the registration district in which such ground is situated,

such company shall henceforth become and be a body corporate, by the name designated in the instrument so registered, and may take, hold, preserve, protect, improve, embellish, sell and convey land to be used exclusively as a cemetery or place for the burial of the dead. R.S., c. 63, s. 2.

Limited liability

3 No member of the company shall be personally liable for any obligation of the company beyond the amount unpaid on any share or shares owned by any such member, together with any amount unpaid on any assessment made under this Act. R.S., c. 63, s. 3.

Deemed shareholders

4 Every owner of a lot, containing not less than one hundred superficial feet, in a cemetery established, maintained, conducted, managed or operated by such company, who has paid not less than twenty-five per cent of the price of the lot shall be deemed to be a shareholder in the company and every such lot shall be deemed a share in the company. R.S., c. 63, s. 4.

Directors

5 (1) The affairs and property of the company shall be managed by nine directors, and a majority of the directors shall form a quorum.

Election of directors

(2) The first directors shall be chosen by ballot from among the shareholders whose names are affixed to the instrument so registered, and thereafter the directors shall be elected annually by the shareholders at the annual meeting of the company, which shall be held on the third Monday in January in every year.

Notice of annual meeting

(3) Notice of the meeting shall be given by the secretary-treasurer to each shareholder at least ten days prior to the meeting.

Posting of notice

(4) A copy of the notice shall be posted in at least three prominent places in the vicinity of the cemetery.

Vacancy

(5) Where any vacancy occurs in the office of director by death, resignation, removal or otherwise the remaining directors shall appoint a shareholder of the company to fill the vacancy.

Term of replacement director

(6) Any shareholder so appointed shall hold office until the annual meeting of the company next following his appointment and shall be eligible for re-election. R.S., c. 63, s. 5.

Voting

6 Every shareholder shall be entitled to one vote for every share held by him provided that where a member holds more than ten shares he shall be entitled to only one vote for each five shares in excess of ten so held by him. R.S., c. 63, s. 6.

Officers

7 (1) The directors shall elect

(a) one of their number to be president of the company, who shall preside at every meeting of the directors and who shall not vote except in case of an equality of votes, when he shall have the casting vote;

(b) one of their number or a shareholder to be secretary-treasurer, and who shall receive such compensation as may be allowed by the company.

Acting officers

(2) In the absence of the president or secretarytreasurer the directors may choose one of their number as acting president or acting secretary-treasurer. R.S., c. 63, s. 7.

By-laws

8 The directors may from time to time, make such by-laws, rules or regulations, not inconsistent with this Act as they deem necessary and proper for the management of the affairs of the company. R.S., c. 63, s. 8.

Records

9 (1) The directors shall provide the secretary-treasurer with all books necessary for the keeping of proper accounts and records of the company and shall also provide the secretary-treasurer with a plan of the cemetery, showing the size and location of the lots therein.

Duties of secretary-treasurer

(2) The secretary-treasurer shall keep a record of all by-laws, of all proceedings at meetings, of all accounts and funds of the company, and shall render a detailed account, at the annual meeting, of receipts and expenditures; he shall keep a list or other suitable record of the names of all lot holders, showing the number or numbers, referable to the plan, of the lot or lots held by each and the location of graves in the lot or lots, and he shall also keep a record of the names, ages, date of burial and number of lot in which each is buried, of all persons interred in the cemetery, and shall perform such other duties as the directors direct.

Inspection of by-laws and records

(3) Such by-laws and such plan and such list or record shall be available to any person at all reasonable times for the purpose of searching and making extracts therefrom without payment of any fee. R.S., c. 63, s. 9.

Instalment

10 The directors may call for instalments on the sums subscribed for, and may appoint a time for the payment thereof; and if the same are not then paid, the rights of the subscriber, and every instalment paid on his shares shall be forfeited, provided that the directors may remit such forfeiture, if the instalments are paid with interest within one year from the time so appointed. R.S., c. 63, s. 10.

Assessments

11 The directors, or a majority of the shareholders present at any annual or at any special meeting called for that purpose, shall have power to assess lot holders rateably in proportion to the number and dimensions of lots held by them for any money required for protecting, enlarging, fencing or improving the cemetery, or for the purchase of land, or for any other necessary purpose connected with the management thereof, and the company may sue for and recover the amount of any assessment as a private debt from any lot holder, provided that no larger sum than four dollars shall be assessed against any one lot holder in any one year. R.S., c. 63, s. 11.

Dividends

12 (1) From and out of the proceeds of the sales of burial sites made by the company, the company may pay to its shareholders who do not desire to take land in the cemetery to the full extent of the stock subscribed and paid for by them, interest on their paid up stock not represented by land in the cemetery, at such rate, not exceeding seven per cent per annum as the directors may determine, and the company may also repay to such shareholders the amount of paid up stock held by them not represented by land in the cemetery.

Rights of shareholders

(2) Every such person shall be entitled to all the rights and privileges of a shareholder, in respect of the shares of the capital stock of the company held by him and fully paid up, and which are not represented by land in the cemetery, until the amount paid for the shares is repaid to him by the company, and upon such repayment to him he shall cease to be a shareholder in respect of such shares.

Limitation on dividends

(3) Except as aforesaid, no dividend or profit of any kind shall be paid by the company to any member thereof. R.S., c. 63, s. 12.

Use of lot proceeds

13 One half of the proceeds of all sales of burial sites made by the company shall be first applied to the payment of the purchase money of the land acquired by the company, and, subject to Section 12, the residue to preserving, improving and embellishing the land as a cemetery or burial ground, and to the incidental expenses of the company, and after payment of the purchase money, the proceeds of future sales shall be applied to the preservation, improvement and embellishment of the cemetery, and to the incidental expenses thereof, and to no other purpose whatsoever. R.S., c. 63, s. 13.

Powers of company

14 (1) The company is hereby authorized and empowered to receive, take, hold, manage and enjoy any real or personal property, which may from time to time be donated, devised or bequeathed to the company in trust for the permanent or other improvement of the property of the company or any part thereof, or any lot or lots therein, in accordance with the conditions or provisions contained in any deed of trust, devise, bequest or donation made or given to the company or executed in favour of the company, and to assume and undertake the duty and obligation of preserving and maintaining in proper manner for any time or forever, any particular lot, monument or enclosure in the cemetery of the company, and to enter into agreements binding the company to preserve and maintain in a proper manner for any time or forever, such lot, monument or enclosure in such cemetery designated in the deed of trust, devise, bequest or donation.

Authority of executors

(2) Executors, administrators or trustees may pay over and transfer to the company, money or securities in their hands, which they are by the will of their testator or other instrument, directed to apply for or toward the purposes in this Section specified. R.S., c. 63, s. 14.

Tax exemption

15 The cemetery of any company, and the lots or plots therein when conveyed by the company to individual proprietors for burial sites, shall be exempt from taxation of any kind, and shall not be liable to be seized or sold on execution. R.S., c. 63, s. 15.

Burial regulations

16 The company shall, subject to the approval of the Governor in Council, make regulations to ensure all burials within the cemetery are being conducted in a decent and proper manner. R.S., c. 63, s. 16.

Poor and strangers

17 The directors shall lay out and keep in reserve and in good order a portion of ground sufficiently large for the burial of the poor and strangers, and such graves shall be marked and numbered as the directors see fit. R.S., c. 63, s. 17.

Registration of conveyance

18 The conveyance of a lot sold by the company for a burial site shall not require to be registered for any purpose whatever, and shall not be affected by any Act respecting the registration of deeds, nor shall any judgment, mortgage, or encumbrance subsist on or against any lot so conveyed. R.S., c. 63, s. 18.

Powers of directors

19 (1) The directors shall have power

(a) to allot and sell lots, and deeds or conveyances of any lot made by the company shall be executed by the president and secretary-treasurer, but the corporate seal of the company shall not be necessary;

(b) to repair, straighten, re-erect or alter in any way they deem desirable any grave, gravestone, monument, fence or curbing which is not kept in proper repair by the owner of the lot in which the grave, gravestone, monument, fence or curbing is situated;

(c) to improve and put in good order any lot which, in the opinion of the directors, has been neglected and is in need of care and, in the name of the company, to sue for and to collect the cost of making the improvement from the owner of the lot if, after ten days notice in writing requiring the owner so to do, the improvement is not made by the owner.

Disposal of lot by holder

(2) Any lot holder wishing to dispose of his lot shall first offer the same to the company at the price paid by him for the lot, not including any assessment, and on refusal of the company to purchase the lot, he may then dispose of the same to any person by written transfer and entry on the books of the company by the secretary-treasurer. R.S., c. 63, s. 19.

Companies Winding Up Act

20 (1) If any company incorporated under this Act should desire to be wound up, then, if no lot has been sold for the purpose of burial, or if any lots have been sold for such purposes, with the consent in writing of the owner of every such lot, the company may be wound up under the Companies Winding Up Act.

Use of surplus

(2) The property of any company so wound up shall be freed and discharged from all trusts and the proceeds of any such property devised or conveyed by way of gift to the company in trust for the purpose of a cemetery shall be applied to such charitable or benevolent purpose as the Governor in Council directs. R.S., c. 63, s. 20.

SCHEDULE

FORM OF INSTRUMENT OF INCORPORATION

Be it remembered, that on this . . . . . . . . . . day of . . . . . . . . . . in the year of our Lord one thousand nine hundred . . . . . . . . . ., we, the undersigned shareholders, met at . . . . . . . . ., in the County of . . . . . . . . . . in the Province of Nova Scotia, and resolved to form ourselves into a cemetery company, to be called . . . . . . . . . . according to the provisions of the Cemetery Companies Act, and we do hereby agree that the capital stock of the said company shall be . . . . . . . . . . dollars, to be divided into shares of . . . . . . . . . . dollars each, entitling the holder to one hundred superficial feet; and we, the undersigned shareholders, do hereby agree to accept and take the number of shares set by us opposite our respective signatures; and we do hereby agree to pay the calls thereon according to the provisions of the said Act, and the rules, regulations and by-laws of the company, to be made in that behalf.

Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

No. of Shares . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Amount . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

R.S., c. 63, Sch.

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