The present Code of Canon Law makes no regulation regarding burial except, “If a parish has its own cemetery, the faithful departed are to be interred in it unless another cemetery has been legitimately chosen either by the departed person or by those who are responsible to arrange for his or her interment” (No. 1180.1).
The only indication of “facing east” was in the Roman Ritual of 1950, prescribing the placement of the corpse during the funeral Mass: “The coffin is then set in the middle of the church, placed so that the feet (unless the deceased is a priest) of the corpse are toward the main altar; in the case of a priest, the head is placed toward the altar” (No. 4). Presuming the church was built with the altar facing east, then the corpse would be facing east. This practice may be the reason for particular parishes burying the deceased with the head facing east.