The Burial Act 1857 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is one of the Burial Acts 1852 to 1885. Its purpose is to regulate burial grounds. It regulates where and how deceased people may be buried, and provides for the exhumation of remains.
The Act made it illegal to disturb a grave (other than for an officially sanctioned exhumation). The Act did not make it illegal to steal a dead body, and it is only the opening of the grave which constitutes an offence, not the removal of the contents.
References
Burial Act 1857 Wikipedia(Text) CC BY-SA