Louisiana Revised Statutes 25:932 – Legislative declaration of intent
Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes 25:932
- Board: shall mean the Louisiana Cemetery Board. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 25:933
- Damage: shall mean the intentional or inadvertent hurt, harm, or injury to a component of a historic cemetery or to an isolated grave so as to lessen or destroy its historic, cultural, or scientific value. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 25:933
- Destruction: shall mean intentionally or inadvertently destroying components of a historic cemetery by violent disintegration of its fabric so as to reduce the components to ruin. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 25:933
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
The legislature hereby finds the demolition, destruction, and damage of historic cemeteries and isolated graves a disrespectful practice. The legislature further finds that existing state laws do not provide for the adequate protection of historic cemeteries that are not under the jurisdiction of the Louisiana Cemetery Board, are not on state lands, and are not solely comprised of unmarked graves. Cemeteries are considered by most cultures to be sacred spaces. In addition to being resting places for our dead, many of Louisiana’s cemeteries are repositories of significant examples of art, architecture, and archaeology as well as containing the history of their respective communities. The importance of cemeteries should not be taken lightly, as these significant elements represent a substantial tourist attraction for the state of Louisiana, and also present an endless source of data for historians, taphologists, anthropologists, archaeologists, and genealogists that collectively lead us to a better understanding of our own culture.
Acts 2010, No. 707, §1, eff. June 29, 2010.