Louisiana Law Prevents Monks from Selling Handmade Caskets
ByMonks in Louisiana face jail time if their company, Saint Joseph Woodworks, was to sell their handmade caskets in the state of Louisiana.
The Institute for Justice has accepted the case request by Abbot Brown and his fellow monks to provide them with the authority to sell their caskets within the state of Louisiana. Currently the monks, who have been established in the Gulf South since 1889, are under threat of hefty fines or even jail time for selling their caskets due to protectionism laws put into place by state legislature to protect the funeral cartel of Louisiana.
Current Louisiana law makes it legal to bury the human body straight into the ground or you can also wrap a body in a bed sheet to bury the deceased. Making your own casket or one made by someone else is also legal as long as it is not purchased. However, it is illegal to purchase a casket if the purchase is not make by one of their politically protected and licensed cartel members.
The monks caskets, made by Saint Joseph Woodworks, are simple in nature and are not requested by large numbers of people. The monks of Saint Joseph Abbey have been making been making their caskets for over a hundred years and use these profits to support the health and education of their monks at the monastery. There is a public demand for their simplistic coffins and they just wish to have the right to continue to provide this option to people who have lost loved ones.
This case has come about from a subpoena issued to Saint Joseph Abbey members Abbot Justin Brown and Deacon Mark Coudrain in March by the State Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors. If the two are found guilty they will be subject to 180 days in jail and thousands in fines. Both of which are crippling to the monks, monastery, and Saint Joseph Woodworks.
Institute for Justice Senior Attorney Jeff Rowes states,
The brothers of Saint Joseph Abbey are ready to go all the way to the Supreme Court if that’s what it takes to restore economic liberty to grassroots entrepreneurs everywhere.
References to this case can be found at:
Video: Free the Monks & Free Enterprise
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