At a time when other fundamental debates concern the quality of the end of life, it seems obvious that questions about how to die well remain at the heart of the essential question: the meaning of life. Since the dawn of time, human burials have been distinguished from animal burials by a cave, a dolmen, a tumulus or a cairn. Antiquity practiced embalming and burial very early on to protect the integrity of the corpse against all forms of destruction. Other philosophies favored the destruction of the body by immersion or cremation.

The material studied takes account of the specific nature of legal science, based on a methodical analysis of the rules in all their diversity (laws and regulations in particular) and their application by the courts (case law), supplemented by a doctrinal perspective.

Since time immemorial, legal rules have responded to a double contradictory concern: to ensure the preservation of public health by making sure that corpses are not sources of infection, and to maintain a maximum level of security for citizens in order to avoid hasty burials, which is a marginal but real risk. But today, the territory must face a lack of space and a serious environmental problem. So the law of 19 December 2008 was passed. This is a law of reaction to the privatization of ashes. It regulates the storage of urns and prohibits the sharing of ashes, in the name of the dignity and decency of human remains.

Despite the limitations of the reforms introduced, cremation has rapidly become an integral part of the funeral environment in France. This change has been made possible by the establishment of a well-developed infrastructure covering almost the entire country. However, while the number of cremations has been rising since 2010, the number of crematoria has been falling over the same period. The future will tell whether the supply of crematoria is sufficient to meet demand, and whether cremation will become the majority option.