Fit for Consumption: A Legal-Philosophical Inquiry into the Permissibility of Cannibalism

Contemporary English and Singapore law is extremely limited in its circumscription of various acts committed against a cadaver, only individuating two offences that can be committed against a corpse. The first is that of corpse desecration. The second is that of necrophilia. Given this limited scope of criminalization, there is a wide range of acts which might putatively be done to a corpse which escapes the spectre of criminality. This paper will demonstrate that cannibalism is, with certain constraints, legally permissible in both England and Singapore. It will be further argued that the cannibalism of corpses is morally permissible and should therefore continue to remain legally so in both jurisdictions. Kantian theory, particularly Kant’s conception of personhood, as well as Matthew Kramer’s version of the interest theory of rights will be utilized to demonstrate cannibalism’s moral permissibility. Finally, this paper will obviate certain communitarian objections to the continued legal permissibility of cannibalism.