117 VIII. COURTS OF CORONERS. (a) 3 EDW. I. c. 10.] What sort of men shall be coroners. Sheriffs 3 EDW. I. shall have counter rolls with them. ENGL. [A. D. 1275.] 3 Edw. I. c. 10.] Forasmuch as mean persons and indiscreet now of late are commonly chosen to the office of coroners, where it is requisite that persons honest, lawful, and wise, should occupy such offices: It is provided, That through all shires (a) This officer is as in England chosen for life, but is removable for incapacity, extortion, neglect, or misbehaviour. The number of coroners is limited to one for each parish, save as to Port Royal, where one is allowed for the town of Port Royal, and another for the mountain district of that parish. The time and manner of electing them is regulated by the general election law. The office of coroner is to inquire into the cause by which any person came to a violent or unnatural death, and this must be done upon view of the body; for if the body be not found he cannot inquire unless he have a special commission for the purpose. The coroner must also sit if convenient at the place where the death happened. If any be found guilty of murder or homicide, he is to commit them to prison for trial, and to inquire concerning their lands and goods, and certify the whole to the Supreme Court of Judicature or the next assize. Deodands (the forfeiture of chattels which may have caused a death) are abolished by 10 Vic. c. 7. In illness the coroner may appoint a deputy (being a magistrate) to act for him, and his inquisition cannot be quashed for mere technical errors. By 41 Geo. III. c. 13, the coroner is allowed £5 currency (£3 sterling) for every inquisition, and 1s. 6d. (sterling) per mile for travelling from his usual abode to take the inquisition, to be paid out of the public treasury. Where the inquest extends over several deaths by one cause on one view by the same jury, the inquest is taken as one inquisition, and only one fee payable thereon. By 8 Geo. IV. c. 22, all coroners in inquisitions on manslaughter or murder are required under penalty to take the evidence in writing, and are empowered to bind witnesses by recognizance to appear at the trial. By 13 Vic. c. 21, a medical practitioner may be summoned to give evidence on inquests, and to perform post mortem examinations, with the previous direction of the jury. His fees for attending are regulated by the act. (Vide PROSEC. and WITNESSES. Post.) A coroner's court is a close court for the purposes of the inquisition, and acting judicially he may exclude any one from the court who is there merely as a spectator or reporter, and not for the purpose of giving evidence or information 6 Barn. & C. 611. A coroner has a discretion as to admitting or excluding any person from his court; and it seems a newspaper statement of an inquisition accompanied with comments is libellous although the report is strictly true. He may disinter a dead body in order to view it; but if it is in such a state that it cannot be seen, the inquest must be taken by the jurors upon testimony. It is an indictable offence to bury a body liable to an inquest without sending for the coroner. Coroners may inquire as to found or c. 10. Engl. stat. 1275. |