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CORONER

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 188 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CORONER , an See also:

ancient officer of the See also:English See also:common See also:law, so called, according to See also:Coke, because he was a keeper of the pleas of the See also:crown (custos placitorum coronae). At what See also:period the See also:office of coroner was instituted is a See also:matter of considerable doubt; some See also:modern authorities (See also:Stubbs, Select Charters, 26o; See also:Pollock and See also:Maitland, His'. Eng. Law, i. 519) date its origin from 1194, but C. See also:Gross (See also:Political See also:Science Quarterly, vol. vii.) has shown that it must have existed before that date. The office was always elective, the See also:appointment being made by the freeholders of the See also:county assembled in county See also:court. By the See also:Statute of See also:Westminster the First it was ordered that none but lawful and discreet knights should be chosen as coroners, and in one instance a See also:person was actually removed from office for insufficiency of See also:estate. Lands to the value of £2o per annum (the qualification for See also:knighthood) were afterwards deemed sufficient to satisfy the requirements as to estate which ought to be insisted on in the See also:case of a coroner. The complaint of See also:Blackstone shows the transition of the office from its See also:original dignified and honorary See also:character to a paid appointment in the public service. " Now, indeed, through the culpable neglect of gentlemen of See also:property, this office has been suffered to fall into disrepute, and get into See also:low and indigent hands; so that, although formerly no coroners would condescend to be paid for serving their See also:country, and they were by the aforesaid Statute of Westminster expressly forbidden to take a See also:reward, under See also:pain of a See also:great See also:forfeiture to the See also:king; yet for many years past they have only desired to be chosen for their perquisites; being allowed fees for their attendance by the statute 3 See also:Henry VII. c. 1, which See also:Sir See also:Edward Coke complains of heavily; though since his See also:time those fees have been much enlarged." The See also:mercenary character of the office, thus deprecated by Coke and Blackstone, is now firmly established, without, however (it need hardly be said), affording the slightest ground for such reflections as the above.

The coroner is in fact a public officer, and like other public See also:

officers receives See also:payment for his services. The person appointed is almost invariably a qualified legal or medical practitioner; how far one is a more " See also:fit person " than another has frequently been a matter of dispute—a See also:Bill of 1879, which, however, failed to pass, decided in favour of the legal profession. The property qualification for a county coroner (" having See also:land in See also:fee sufficient in the same county whereof he may See also:answer to all manner of See also:people," 14 Ed. III. st. 1, c. 8), although re-enacted in the Coroners See also:Act 1887, is now virtually dispensed with. The appointment is for See also:life, but is vacated by the holder being made See also:sheriff. A coroner may be removed by the See also:writ de coronatore exonerando, for sufficient cause assigned, or the See also:lord See also:chancellor may, if he thinks fit, remove any coroner from his office for inability or misbehaviour in the See also:discharge of his See also:duty. Coroners are of three kinds: (I) coroners by virtue of their office, e.g. the lord See also:chief See also:justice of the king's See also:bench is the See also:principal coroner of See also:England; the See also:puisne See also:judges of the king's bench are See also:sovereign coroners—they may exercise their See also:jurisdiction within any See also:part of the See also:realm, even in the See also:verge 1 or other exempt liberties or franchises; (2) coroners by See also:charter or See also:commission, e.g. in certain liberties and franchises coroners are appointed by the crown or by lords holding a charter from the crown; (3) coroners by virtue of See also:election, e.g. county and See also:borough coroners. County coroners in England were, until 1888, elected by the freeholders, but by the See also:Local See also:Government Act 1888 the appointment was given to the county See also:council, who may appoint any fit person, not being a county See also:alderman or county councillor, to fill the office. By an act of 186o the See also:system of payment by fees, established by an act of 1843, was abolished and payment made by See also:salary calculated on the See also:average amount of the fees, mileage, and allowances usually received by the coroner for a period of five years, and the calculation revised every five years. In boroughs having a See also:separate court of See also:quarter sessions, and whose See also:population exceeds Io,000, the coroner is. appointed by the See also:town council and is paid by fees.

A county coroner must reside within his See also:

district or not more than two See also:miles out of it. See also:Deputy coroners are also appointed in both counties and boroughs, and the law See also:relating to their appointment is contained in the Coroners Act 1892. The duties of a coroner were ascertained by 4 Edward I. st. 2:-" A coroner of our Lord the king ought to inquire of these things, first, when coroners are commanded by the king's bailiffs or by the honest men of the county, they shall go to the places where any be slain, or suddenly dead or wounded, or where houses are broken, or where treasure is said to be found, and shall forthwith command four of the next towns, or five, or six, to appear before him in such a See also:place; and when they are come thither, the coroner upon the See also:oath of them shall inquire in this manner, that is, to wit, if it concerns a See also:man slain, if they know when the person was slain, whether it were in any See also:house, See also:field, See also:bed, See also:tavern, or See also:company, and if any, and 188 1 Coroner of the Verge.—The verge comprised a See also:circuit of I2 M. See also:round the king's court, and the coroner of the king's house, called the coroner of the verge, has jurisdiction within this See also:radius. By the Coroners Act 1887 the jurisdiction of the verge was abolished and became absorbed in that of the county, but the appointment of the king's coroner was See also:left with the lord steward, while his jurisdiction was limited to the precincts of the See also:palace.who, were there, &c. It shall also be inquired if the dead person were known, or else a stranger, and where he See also:lay the See also:night before. And if any person is said to be guilty of the See also:murder, the coroner shall go to their house and inquire what goods they have, &c." Similar directions were given for cases of persons found drowned or suddenly dead, for See also:attachment of criminals in cases of violence, &c. His functions are now, by the Coroners Act 1887, limited to an inquiry upon " the dead See also:body of a person lying within his jurisdiction, where there is reasonable cause to suspect that such person has died either a violent or an unnatural See also:death, or has died a sudden death of which the cause is unknown, or that such person has died in See also:prison, or in such place or under such circumstances as to require an See also:inquest in pursuance of any act " (s. 3), and upon treasure-trove (s. 36). The See also:inquisition must be super visum corporis (that is, after " viewing the body "); the See also:evidence is taken on oath; and any party suspected may See also:tender evidence. The Coroners Act 1887, s.

21, gives See also:

power to the coroner to summon medical witnesses and to See also:direct the performance' of a See also:post-mortem examination. The See also:verdict must be that of twelve at least of the See also:jury. If any person is found guilty of murder or other See also:homicide, the coroner shall commit him to prison for trial; he shall also certify the material evidence to the court, find bind over the proper persons to prosecute or to give evidence at the trial. He may in his discretion accept See also:bail for a person found guilty of See also:manslaughter. Since the abolition of public executions, the coroner is required to hold an inquest on the body of any criminal on whom See also:sentence of death has been carried into effect. The duty of coroners to inquire into treasure-trove (q.v.) is still preserved by the Coroners Act 1887, which, however, repealed certain other jurisdictions, as,—inquests of royal See also:fish (See also:whale, See also:sturgeon) thrown ashore or caught near the See also:coast; inquest of wrecks, and of felonies, except felonies on inquisitions of death. By the See also:City of See also:London See also:Fire Inquests Act 1888 the duty is imposed upon the coroner for the city to hold inquests in cases of loss or injury by fire in the city of London and the liberties thereof situated in the county of See also:Middlesex. This is a practice which exists in several See also:European countries. In See also:Scotland the duties of a coroner are performed by an officer called a See also:procurator-fiscal. In the See also:United States and in most of the colonies of Great See also:Britain the duties of a coroner are substantially the same. In some cases his duties are more enlarged, his inquisition embracing the origin of fires; in others they are confined to 'holding inquests in cases of suspicious deaths. Unlike a coroner in England, he is elected generally only for a specified period.

End of Article: CORONER

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