Inquest

“ The whole inquest-room, speaking metaphorically, was on its legs—coroner, jury, spectators—as the rushing tide of eager faces surged into it. What were the tidings they had brought?—what new evidence had come to light? Nothing very great, after all.
It was only a part of a letter. In the pocket of the dress which the unhappy lady had worn on the Friday, the day of her arrival at South Wennock, had just been found a half sheet of note paper, with some lines of writing on it and a great blot. ”

“ It is a grand inquest, a body with powers of investigation and inquisition, the scope of whose inquiries is not to be limited narrowly by questions of propriety or forecasts of the probable result of the investigation, or by doubts whether any particular individual will be found properly subject to an accusation of crime. As has been said before, the identity of the offender, and the precise nature of the offense, if there be one, normally are developed at the conclusion of the grand jury's labors, not at the beginning. ”

“ Art. 4. If, from the inquest mentioned in article two, facts are elicited which induce the officer holding it to believe that the prisoner was made to join the band by force, without having committed any other crime, or that he was found accidentally in it, without belonging to it, the said officer shall abstain from passing sentence, and he shall send the accused, with the respective act of inquest, to the proper court-martial, in order that the trial be proceeded with by the latter, in conformity with article one. ”

“ The inquest may bring to light some new evidence that will put the police on the murderer's track. You must remember that they have been engaged in tracing the body up to now. When the inquest has been held and the facts are known they will be able to begin the search for the murderers. ”

“ If anyone can inform my Lords the King's justices, the King's attorney-general, or the King's serjeant, ere this inquest be now taken between our Sovereign Lord the King and the prisoner at the bar, of any treason, murder, felony or misdemeanour, committed or done by him, let him come forth and he shall be heard; for the prisoner stands at the bar upon his deliverance. ”

“ In the course of the 12th and 13th centuries the old formal accusatory procedure began to break down, and to be superseded by another form of procedure known as inquisitio, inquest, or enquête. Its decay was hastened by the decree of the fourth Lateran Council in 1215, which forbade ecclesiastics to take part in ordeals. The Norman administrative system introduced into England by the Conquest was familiar with a method of ascertaining and determining facts by means of a verdict, return or finding made on oath by a body of men drawn from the locality. ”

“ The Under Sheriff, before whom the inquest was held, did every thing that man could do to prevail upon the jury to return a verdict of a farthing damages, contending that they must return a verdict of some damage. The foreman very sensibly remarked, "if you have called a witness who has sworn that there was not the smallest particle of damage done, how can we, upon our oath, say there was some damage?" ”

“ Thou shalt go and tell Mord to take witness and swear an oath, that the greater part of the inquest is rightly summoned, and then he shall bring that witness before the court, and then he may set the prosecution on its feet again; but he will have to pay a fine of three marks for every man that he has wrongly summoned ”

“ The true answer is that forms of trial resembling the jury system in various particulars are to be found in the primitive institutions of all nations. That which comes nearest in time and character to trial by jury is the system of recognition by sworn inquest, introduced into England by the Normans. ”

“ The editor congratulated himself on the headlines. Years afterwards, when strangers came into the office, he would take down the file and point them out with pride. The first word. “Murder,” was set in woodblock type an inch and a half deep: “And Inquest,” in the German decorative capitals usually used for illuminated texts by printers of religious literature.
The actual evidence adduced at the inquest was meagre.
George, the deck-hand, was examined by the Coroner at great length. ”

“ These formed the inquest, who were to inquire into the circumstances of the crime, and whose verdict, however unimportant in a strictly legal sense, was looked for with considerable impatience by some of the company. To judge from the anxious looks that were directed towards the mountain road, or the piercing glances which at times were given through telescopes in that direction, one would have augured that some, at least, of those there, were not destitute of sympathy for him whose guests they had been, and beneath whose roof they still lingered. ”

“ At the [273] close of this paper I append a list of these columns, of which only thirty-eight are headed (or included in the portion headed) “De testa de Nevill.”
To resume. For the great Inquest of 1212 (14 John) we have (1) mention in a chronicle, (2) the writ directing it to be made, (3) the record of a sworn verdict of jurors who made it. For the alleged Inquests of 1210–12 (12 and 13 John) we have nothing at all. [544] We have, further, the fact that, when collated, the returns said to belong to these “independent” Inquests are found to be clearly derived from a single original. ”

“ An inquest was held on the body on Saturday the 31st of December, at the White Lion Inn, Edgeware-road; but although every witness was examined, whose evidence tended to throw the smallest light on the occurrence, the jury were at length compelled to return a verdict of “Wilful Murder against some person or persons unknown.” ”

“ In 1486 it was enacted, "That the justices of the peace of every shire of this realm for the time being may take, by their discretion, an inquest, whereof every man shall have lands and tenements to the yearly value of forty shillings at the least, to inquire of the concealments of others," &c., &c.—3 Henry VII., ch. ”

“ Spenser.
The laborious and vexatious inquest that the soul must make after science.
South.
2. (Law) (a) Judicial inquiry; official examination, esp. before a jury; as, a coroner's inquest in case of a sudden death. (b) A body of men assembled under authority of law to inquire into any matter, civil or criminal, particularly any case of violent or sudden death; a jury, particularly a coroner's jury. The grand jury is sometimes called the grand inquest. ”

“ A trial was about to commence. ‘Sheriff, is p. 186your inquest in court?’ said the Mayor. ‘Yes, my lord,’ replied the sheriff, ‘and, I am proud to say, it will be an excellent jury for the crown. I myself have picked and chosen every man upon the panel. I have spoken to them all; and there is not one whom I have not examined carefully, not only as to his knowledge of the offences of which the prisoner stands charged, but of all the circumstances from which his guilt can be collected, suspected, or inferred. ”

“ Henry II., by instituting the grand assize and the four petty assizes, placed at the disposal of litigants in certain actions the opportunity of giving proof by the verdict of a sworn inquest of neighbours, proof “by the country.” The system was gradually extended to other cases, criminal as well as civil. The verdict given was that of persons having a general, but not necessarily a particular, acquaintance with the persons, places and facts to which the inquiry related. ”

“ At twelve o’clock, at noon, on the eighth, a jury of inquest arrived, composed of twelve farmers, and a coroner, and sat over the bodies of our murdered countrymen; they began to take the depositions of the prisoners and turnkeys, and proceeded on till seven in the evening, and adjourned till next morning. ”

“ The grand inquest are bound to observe alike strictly every part of their oath, and to use all just and proper ways which may enable them to perform it; otherwise it were to say, that after men had sworn to inquire diligently after the truth, according to the best of their knowledge, they were bound to forsake all the natural and proper means which their understandings suggest for the discovery of it, if it be commanded by the judges."—Lord Somers' Essay on Grand Juries, p. ”

“ It was an ordinary country jury, consisting p. 60mostly of farmers, with a small shopkeeper or two, and Tim Dallott, landlord of the “Waggon and Horses,” as foreman. We visited the chamber where the body lay, but it did not add anything to my knowledge except that I was able to form some idea what the man had looked like in life, which did at least add to the interest of the mystery.
An inquest is a singularly useless form of inquiry at its best. It is doubly and trebly so when the police use it, as frequently they do, for purposes of their own, to conceal the truth rather than reveal it. ”

“ A grand jury, or an indictment, or a presentment jury, or an inquest jury, is a jury (differing as to numbers in different States) for the purpose of investigating alleged crimes. If, upon investigation, the jury believes the accused person has either committed the act or has had a part in the crime, it will draw up a formal accusation in writing. This accusation is called an indictment and is presented to the court. In a few States a person may be brought to trial for violation of a law of the State upon information filed by the prosecuting attorney. ”

“ Such are the alleged facts in this case, as elicited from all the parties concerned, and they only tend to throw additional mystery over the death of the deceased, rather than explain it. An inquest will be commenced today at the fifteenth precinct police station, a jury having been impaneled and the police are endeavoring to obtain certain witnesses deemed necessary and desirable by the coroner. ”

“ The court had instructed the district attorney to be present at the inquest, and though that unobtrusive gentleman had taken notes, and otherwise shown a quiet interest in the proceedings, he now awakened to a more alert manner, and leaned forward to get a better look at the white, set face of the witness. ”

“ It is supposed that an inquest will have to be held; there is some slight evidence to prove that the blow, or push, or scuffle that caused the fall, was provoked by this poor fellow's half-tipsy impertinence to a young lady, walking with the man who pushed the deceased over the edge of the platform. ”

“ To illustrate: A person comes to your law office and states his case, and then after that you go into court to hear the case and pronounce judgment on it.”
Judge Blaisdell—“I think Mr. Jennings is mistaken. The statutes make it my imperative duty to hold an inquest and upon the testimony introduced at that hearing, to direct the issuance of warrants. The motion is overruled and the demurred sustained.”
Mr. Jennings—“Then, your Honor, we are ready for trial.”
Mr. Knowlton—“The evidence in this case could not be completed at once. ”

“ He who is arraigned upon an indictment of felony shall be admitted, in favor of life, to challenge the number of inquirers for three whole inquests peremptorily. With cause, he may challenge as many as he has cause to challenge. Such peremptory challenge shall not be admitted in a private suit because it is a suit of the party. ”

“ The qualification of the coroner’s jurors does not depend on the Juries Acts 1825 and 1870, and in practice they are drawn from householders in the immediate vicinity of the place where the inquest is held. Unanimity is not required of a coroner’s jury; but twelve must concur in the verdict. If it charges anyone with murder or manslaughter, it is duly recorded and transmitted to a court of assize, and has the same effect as an indictment by a grand jury, i.e. it is accusatory only and is not conclusive, and is traversable, and the issue of guilt or innocence is tried by a petty jury. ”

“ The jury, after inspecting the body and hearing the testimony, must render their verdict, and certify it by an inquisition in writing, signed by them, and setting forth who the person killed or wounded is, and when, where, and by what means he came to his death or was wounded, and if he were killed or wounded, or his death were occasioned by the act of another by criminal means, who is guilty thereof, in so far as by such inquisition they have been able to ascertain. ”

“ The charge against any offender to be reduced into writing, and exhibited by the judge-advocate: witnesses to be examined upon oath, and the major part of the court to adjudge whether or not the prisoner be guilty. If guilty, and the offence be capital, they are to pronounce judgment of death, in like manner as if the prisoner had been convicted by the verdict of a jury in England, or of such corporal punishment as the major part of the court shall deem meet. And in cases not capital, they are to adjudge such corporal punishment as the majority of the court shall determine. ”

“ Gentlemen of the Jury,– I appear before you with the consolation that my character has already been delivered, by the verdict of a grand jury, from the shocking imputation of murder; and that, although the evidence against me was laid before them, without any explanation or evidence of the accusations which brought me into my present unhappy situation, they made their own impression, and no charge of criminal homicide was found against me. ”

“ May it please your lordship, and you gentlemen of the jury, I am of counsel for the King against the prisoner at the bar. You have heard that he stands indicted for a murder done upon the person of a young girl. Such crimes as this you may perhaps reckon to be not uncommon, and, indeed, in these times, I am sorry to say it, there is scarce any fact so barbarous and unnatural but what we may hear almost daily instances of it. ”