Gathering Dust

The Resurrectionist goes plying
Without ado his simple trade;
Material is always dying
And got with nothing but a spade.
Edward Gorey

Concerns are rising about the novelty trade in human remains, on the grounds that certain entrepreneurial souls are acquiring bits and pieces illegally for sale. In cases of recent death, such practices may annoy those survivors of the deceased who are atavistic enough to equate dead meat with human beings; and this very superstition seems to be the reason for the legal loophole that permits human remains to be possessed or sold even when illegally exhumed. British justice looks sternly upon the use of the living as chattels, although their material living conditions may be bought, sold and despoiled at the convenience of whoever can afford it. By similar reasoning, dead bodies are not considered property under UK law and cannot be owned or stolen; on the other hand, it is a crime to desecrate a grave because that would mean vandalising real estate.