Dead works are works performed without proper authority. At the time of the organization of the Church, certain Baptist converts who had accepted the message of the restored gospel hesitated to be baptized, inasmuch as they had already been baptized by immersion in their former faith (D&C 22:2; Pratt, 16:293–94). Dead works are also the administration of such ordinances as baptism that are performed unnecessarily, as for such persons as little children who have not yet reached the age of accountability (Moroni 8:23).

LDS Beliefs