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Massachusetts in 1784 passed an act providing that the bodies of those killed in duels or executed for killing another in a duel should be given to the surgeons to be dissected. New York in 1789 passed a law punishing the disinterment of bodies for purposes of anatomy. Massachusetts in 1831 passed the first liberal law for the benefit of anatomy passed in any English-speaking country, giving to the surgeons the bodies of criminals and of State paupers who died without leaving relatives. But the New York law of 1789 had given judges the power to order the dissection of executed criminals as a part of their sentence. Most States have since 1831 passed acts more or less liberal to authorize dissection.