Thomas Allan Ingram

“ In the United States and in most of the colonies of Great 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. ”

“ If any person is found guilty of murder or other homicide, the coroner shall commit him to prison for trial; he shall also certify the material evidence to the court, and bind over the proper persons to prosecute or to give evidence at the trial. He may in his discretion accept bail for a person found guilty of manslaughter. Since the abolition of public executions, the coroner is required to hold an inquest on the body of any criminal on whom sentence of death has been carried into effect. ”

“ The person appointed is almost invariably a qualified legal or medical practitioner; how far one is a more “fit person” than another has frequently been a matter of dispute—a Bill of 1879, which, however, failed to pass, decided in favour of the legal profession. The property qualification for a county coroner (“having land in fee sufficient in the same county whereof he may answer to all manner of people,” 14 Ed. III. st. 1, c. 8) , although re-enacted in the Coroners Act 1887, is now virtually dispensed with. The appointment is for life, but is vacated by the holder being made sheriff. ”