WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

dead body
    n 1: a natural object consisting of a dead animal or person;
         "they found the body in the lake" [syn: body, dead
         body]

Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

DEAD BODY, crim. law. A corpse.
     2. To take up a dead body without lawful authority, even for the
purposes of dissection, is a misdemeanor, for which the offender may be
indicted at common law. 1 Russ. on Cr. 414; 1 Dowl. & R. 13; Russ. & Ry.
366, ii. b; 2 Chit. Cr. Law, 35. This offence is punished by statute in New
Hampshire, Laws of N. H. 339, 340 in Vermont, Laws of Vermont, 368. c. 361;
in Massachusetts, stat. 1830, c. 51; 8 Pick. 370; 11 Pick. 350; in New York,
2 Rev. Stat. 688. Vide 1 Russ. 414, n. A.
     3. The preventing a dead body from being buried, is also an indictable
offence. 2 T. R. 734; 4 East, 460; 1 Russ. on Cr. 415 and 416, note A.
     4. To inter a dead body found in a river, it seems, would render the
offender liable to an indictment for a misdemeanor, unless he first sent for
the coroner. 1 Kenyon's R. 250.