Coroner

“ Unquestionably, sir; our coroner is a very clever man, and you will be glad to know him—very glad to know him, sir, and he will be glad to know you, so I am sure it will be a mutual gratification. It's at four o'clock the inquest is to be, and I dare say, sir, if you are there by half-past, it will be time enough. ”

“ That is why I say that the profession of medicine should not be allowed to conflict with the solemn duties of the coroner. They are constantly clashing and infringing upon each other's territory. This coroner had a kind of tread-softly-bow-the-head way of getting around the room that made my flesh creep. He had a way, too, when I was asleep, of glancing hurriedly through the pockets of my pantaloons as they hung over a chair, probably to see what evidence he could find that might aid the jury in arriving at a verdict. ”

“ Call over and swear the jury!
“Well gentlemen,” the Coroner begins:—
“Silence there will you,” says the beadle—not the coroner, though it might appear so. “Well gentlemen!” resumed the coroner, “you are impanelled here, to enquire into the death of a certain man. Evidence will be given before you, as to the circumstances attending that death, and you will give your verdict according to the evidence and not according to anything else. The first thing to be done is to view the body. ”

“ Took Elenor Murray’s fancy, as he thinks.
Then thinking of the aunt of Elenor Murray,
Who should be notified, the hunter runs
To tell the aunt—but there’s the coroner—
Is there not law the coroner should know?
Should not the body lie, as it was found,
Until the coroner takes charge of it?
Should not he stand on guard? And so he runs,
And from a farmer’s house by telephone
Sends word to Coroner Merival. Then returns
And guards the body. ”

“ 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 place ”

“ Here the cobbler suddenly rose to his feet.
"I rise, Mr. Chairman," said he, "to protest against the statement that has just been made."
"What statement?" demanded the coroner.
"Against the aspersion," continued the cobbler, with an oratorical flourish, "that has been cast upon a honorable calling."
"I don't understand you," said the coroner.
"Doctor Summers has insinuated that this murder was committed by a butcher. Now a member of that honorable calling is sitting on this jury——"
"You let me alone," growled the butcher.
"I will not let you alone," persisted the cobbler. ”

“ Anciently the Coroner of the Verge had power to do all things within the Verge belonging to the office of the Coroner, to the exclusion of the Coroner of the County; but because the King’s Court was often moveable, it is ordained by stat. of Articuli p. 10super Cartas, c. 3, that on the death of a man, the Coroner of the County shall join in inquisition, to be taken thereof, with the Coroner of the King’s house, and if it happen it cannot be determined before the Steward, process and proceedings shall be thereupon had at common law. ”

“ The coroner cast a withering glance at him, and, turning to the witness, resumed the examination.
"Can you tell us, Doctor, how long a time has elapsed since the death of the deceased?"
"I should say not less than eighteen months, but probably more. How much more it is impossible from inspection alone to say. The bones are perfectly clean—that is, clean of all soft structures—and will remain substantially in their present condition for many years."
"The evidence of the man who found the remains in the watercress-bed suggests that they could not have been there for more than two years. ”

“ How could the household remain asleep with that ghastly tragedy so close at hand? He shuddered and turned half appealingly to Vera. “What’s to be done?”
“The coroner—”
“To be sure, the coroner”—Wyndham snatched at the suggestion. “Do you know his name?” ”

“ With us the office of coroner is not an important one. Generally laymen are appointed to it, men who have done some work at that awful power, the political machine. This is wrong. The office of coroner should only be vested in medical men, and only in such who have shown that they are qualified to fill such a position of consequence. Every candidate for coroner should be examined in forensic medicine and pathology, and should give an ocular demonstration of his capability to make a thorough autopsy. ”

“ The Coroner's Court.—When a coroner is informed that the dead body of a person is lying within his jurisdiction, and that there is reasonable cause to suspect that such person died either a violent or unnatural death, or died a sudden death of which the cause is unknown, he must summon a jury of not less than twelve men to investigate the matter—in other words, hold an inquest—and if the deceased had received medical treatment, the coroner may summon the medical attendant to give evidence. ”

“ A coroner is disqualified from acting as such in any case where the person killed or dangerously wounded is a co-employee with the coroner of any person or persons, association or corporation, or where it appears that the killing or wounding has been occasioned, directly or indirectly, by the employer of the coroner. ”

“ Every man ought to have his chance."
The Juror (to the Coroner) : "I think, Mr. Coroner, the witness should be directed to finish the sentence."
The Coroner (to Mrs. Death) : "You would rather not say what is in your mind?"
Mrs. Death: "I would rather not, sir."
"Then I shall not ask you to disclose it."
The Juror: "But, Mr. Coroner----"
The Coroner: "I am conducting this inquiry, and I have given my decision." (To the witness) . "How long did you remain up on Friday night after your husband went to make a last appeal to his employer?" ”

“ At last come the coroner and his inquiry, like as before, except that the coroner cherishes this case as being out of the common way and tells the gentlemen of the jury, in his private capacity, that “that would seem to be an unlucky house next door, gentlemen, a destined house; but so we sometimes find it, and these are mysteries we can’t account for!” After which the six-footer comes into action and is much admired. ”

“ The Coroner (to the police) : I suppose some one will give evidence as to where these came from?
Mr. Inspector Bradbury: Yes.
The Coroner: It is difficult, gentlemen, to know what to do with regard to those letters; they are not addressed. There is one here. I do not like to read it, because it does not say for whom it is intended. It runs:—​“I write you these few lines to thank you for all your kindness;” and so on. It is not addressed to anyone, and might have been written to Mrs. Dyson or not. To witness:
Did you ever write a letter to Peace in your life?—​No, I never did. ”

“ Coroners are officers at common law, because they deal principally with the pleas of the crown; and, possibly, the name may be derived from the manner of holding the inquest in corona popupuli. The Lord Chief Justice of the Queen’s Bench is, by virtue of his office, principal coroner of England; and may, if he pleases, exercise the jurisdiction of coroner in any part of the realm. ”

“ But men in the position of Coroner Z. can not afford to be compassionate. Everything the bereaved man said deepened the impression that he was acting a part. To make sure that this was really so, the coroner, with just the slightest touch of sarcasm, quietly observed:
“And to ease your wife’s mind—the wife you were so deeply angered with—you visited this house, and, at an hour which you should have spent in reconciliation with her, went through its ancient rooms in the hope—of what?”
Mr. Jeffrey could not answer. ”

“ The office of Coroner is of great antiquity, for in the days of Alfred, King of England, they existed, for he punished with death, a judge who sentenced a party to suffer death upon the coroner’s record, without allowing the culprit to traverse or be tried in another court. ”

“ A coroner's inquest was in session at Russell, and in the benighted regions of the Eastern States where the functions of that worthy public officer are mainly exercised in connection with the "demnition moist" remains of the "found drowned," or the attenuated skeletons of the starved, there can be but faint conception of the divinity which doth hedge a coroner in a frontier city where people, as a rule, die with their boots on. ”

“ In a case of a death reported to a Coroner under section 11, the Coroner may, after consulting a pathologist, order a post-mortem examination to be conducted if the Coroner is of the opinion that a postmortem examination is necessary in the circumstances to establish the manner and cause of death. ”

“ 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. ”

“ That the coroner only within whose jurisdiction the body of any person upon whose death an inquest ought to be holden, shall be lying dead, shall hold the inquest, notwithstanding that the cause of death did not arise within the jurisdiction of such coroner ”

“ The present coroner has introduced several improvements on the old system, especially in the matters of holding inquests at public-houses, and the summoning of jurors Formerly the latter were chosen from the residents nearest to the scene of death, some gentlemen being continually called upon, while the occasional exhibition of a dead body in the back lumberroom of an inn yard, among broken bottles and gaping stablemen, was not conductive to the dignity of a coroner's court or particularly agreeable to the unfortunate surgeon who might have to perform a pout mortem. ”

“ The coroner should have power to demand an explanation of the cause of death from the physician who attended the deceased in his last illness, and whenever such explanation is unsatisfactory, or there are other reasons which lead him to suspect that the defunct has been foully dealt with, to order a complete post-mortem examination. ”

“ They pass you out Jim Hosley, married, and a widower by murdering his wife, and have him engaged to your daughter in six hours. It is as pretty a story as I ever read. A man who wouldn't ring up the coroner on that needs one for his own autopsy. Why, any man would be proud to have a coroner in the family [Pg 36] on the strength of all that. Tescheron, let's talk about the pleasant memories of the past. ”

“ Well, when this gentleman got knifed they communicated with the proper authority, the coroner, and they laid the corpse out in the coroner’s office—our front sitting-room—in preparation for the inquest the next morning. ”

“ Was the coroner watching? Lantry turned his head. No. The warehouse was calm and quiet and shadowed in the dark morning. The coroner was walking away now, across the street, with his two attendants; a beetle had drawn up on the other side of the street, and the coroner was going over to talk with whoever was in the beetle. ”

“ Better see the coroner again, Kent, and get him to take evidence of identification and adjourn for a week. I’ll arrange with Dr. Lingard about the post-mortem at once, and will you, French, get in touch with the local doctors. Meanwhile as we’re here let us settle about the evidence. ”

“ A jury of men, chosen with the careful selection always made by the coroner’s officer, and with such extraordinary happy results, sat solemnly and listened to the evidence, after hearing the coroner’s preliminary address, and viewing the body of the deceased. ”

“ In Bavaria, Saxony, Nassau, and Baden, there are regular coroners whose duty it is to inspect every corpse, while in England the coroner’s jury only convenes in cases where the cause of death is not apparent. ”

“ It is seldom, doubtless, that the patience of a coroner's jury is subjected to so strong a strain. But the information which had so far been elicited was hardly more than the bare circumstance which the body presented,—a man had ridden here, a stranger, and he was dead. ”

“ Coroner, an officer of great antiquity, who is to enquire into the causes of all sudden deaths, where there is the least suspicion of murder, and for that purpose he impannels a jury, to whom he gives a charge, and takes evidence upon oath. The Lord Mayor for the time being is coroner of the city; but he appoints a deputy for the discharge of that office. The coroner’s jury have a right to examine the body of the deceased, and to call in the assistance of physicians or surgeons. They are to try the supposed murderer ”

“ The coroner can cut the inquest down to the barest necessary limits, if he has got all the facts clear beforehand. If he has got to explore in the dark, he'll ask questions here and questions there, and you never know, nor does he, what he's going to drag out to light in the end. But let him have it all clear and straight first! There's only one character I know of, more free from regulations and limitations and red-tape than a coroner, and that's the police-sergeant who runs the coroner. Goodday to you."
A telegram was brought to Martin Hillyard whilst McKerrel was yet speaking ”

“ The functions of Coroner were exercised by the Chamberlain and Sheriffs. The King’s butler, to whom the office of Coroner belonged, was generally made City Chamberlain. In December 1302 the King’s Writ notified the Mayor and Sheriffs that William Trente, his Chamberlain, to whose bailiwick the office of Coroner in the City belonged (ad cujus ballivam officium Coronatoris ... pertinet) , being busy on affairs of State, had deputed John le Clerk to act as Coroner.
More than once the citizens endeavoured to get the appointment of Coroner into their own hands. ”