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Is Necromancy illegal in Waterdeep?
Nowhere in the Legal Code from Waterdeep: Dragon Heist does it say one way or the other, nor even is it implied within any other rule - not even those related to religion, temples or gods.
I do think that if you use a necromancy spell to raise a corpse, you're sort of "stealing" the body of somebody's relative. In Waterdeep, is that considered theft?
I'm assuming that you are referring to the Code Legal from "Waterdeep Dragon Heist". At least from the handout I could find online, there are two obvious legal ramifications with getting a dead body to raise:
This leaves you the technical option of raising some who recently died, but has not yet been buried. This one is a bit more difficult and I guess it will depend on the circumstances:
If the death wasn't natural causes, you are possibly hampering justice.
If the dead body didn't simply lie on the street, you are likely committing Burglary to get to it.
There is also the possibility you mentioned, of calling it a theft.
Finally necromancy itself might be problematic:
Some gods like their dead to stay dead. Raising some skeleton thus is an act of "public blasphemy".
The city officials do not like roving zombies in the streets, in other words, necromancy can be considered disturbing the peace.
There is also the "Using magic to influence a Lord/official/citizen" charge, which might be invoked, especially if you annoy someone important, as even a dead noble might still be considered a noble.
