The Express.
London, England, 1859-02-10 00:00:00

LAW AMENDMENT SOCIETY.

On Monday evening a special meeting of the Law
Amendment Society wee held, in the society's rooms,
Waterloo-place, fur the porpoise of considering the present
state of the law relative to coroners,' and magistrates courts,
and the necessity for .1 measure of redone, so as to prevent
the existence of a jarring juri&lietien between the two courts,
and, at the same tune, to consider the derrirabWty of placing
the coroner's °thee in a more independent position. The
Right Hon. Lord B101:011AX presided.
Mr. HASTINGS, the secretary, opened the proceedings by
reading a paper, in which the author (Mr. Dempsey) spoke
of the question ariaing as to the desirability of enu.ely re-
modelling the whole system pursued in this ancient and use-
ful office, or of extending the duties of the coroner so as to
nut= his office en =foiling check upon crime, a powerful
limitary engine, sad ohe et the greatest boons founded by a
liberal end wine administration. Although the law held the
coroner reeporasibles wader a Ilse, for not holding *Me=
when called ape'', yet county magistrates bad, through a
power they pomesed, been in the cot:latent h shit is many
counties of disallowing the corners' fees; and to such a
eerie= pitch had this met.= arrived, that istuests bad not
been held in csses the law Imperatively d red= they should
be when coroners allowed tbeevelvee to be trammelled by the
county megistrates, and the consequence was the low wee
evaded and justice might be easily hoodwinked. Very remedy
such a oats of things was brought under the nodes of
the Homeerflice as occurring in Kent. The coroner had no
protection at veleta against such magisterial interference ;
and the time bad arrived when some more &finite and intel-
ligible rule, should be laid down for the guidance of the coro-
ner and the protection; of the court. After speaking of
the coroner's as • people's court, " a shield menet oppres-
sion sad lajeetice," and drawing attention to its being a
watchful guardian over the =alto of the community at large,
the author observed It was highly uncalled for, dm-
prom to permit a meddle.onie intertersece on the slot the •
magistrates, both mhe meaty and stipendiary. T • !mule
tor ages, it may be truthfully said, his cocaine= • odium
of corm= a whe sad salutary check upon crime, sad a great
protection W the people, imperially m terse their health and
Yves are esnewned, sae thureLrs why megistesial
Minket:cies? He would have the colorises sam foe
and net paid by foes ; be would give to the coroner's
court a supervision over chemists and druggists in the mile
of poisons end Oreg., and the adulteration of food, se being
' injurious to the public health, shooed be an indictable effence
through the eour. at the querier eles'one. Inv,etigatiot sin
all sanitary matters should he left with the roan, and prin..-
' chial officials should he severely dear with where death arese
from the r negker, cruelly, or Indifference. An importer.*
checge 'ha with .r further prop oaf as regards intaniocide
and c morale, rat of bath. A cam of Infanticide was under
enduing eireurostenese very hard to prove; but he would
check infentioble by obtaining a wider delbetion of marmot-
meat of birth, and punishing emeraly for the minor offence.
In Bootle= the law was much clearer on this subject, sod
there could be no doubt a Loge population was thereby saved
to mhstreer to the et ote, for the law there had it to
be concealment of birth not only where the body was ma-
osaled alter death, but where the mother rionerand her preg-
nant condition for a curtain pitied before coaanemest. as it
was wiled she thus probably soul l sacrifice the child's life
by not having tuAnal and other ON ammo at hand at the
time of birth. Then it was proposed to abol Mt inquiry Into
the state of mind of persons INK, had oommitted suicide, and
the author in comlusion proposed to estatiluh a coroner oys-
ters io Scotland. .

A long dirruionon toot place upon tire pinto treated of in
the paper of Mr. Dempsey, in the tours* of ethic& the sear
eity of =king moo iniportent eltrati in in the Meat of
twofer for am inane's' to the positive of that °Meer, wan
ittroonly inalatodoe. It wen decidei to apFoiata c aramitteo
to otaimulir and retort on the matters conhontd in the paper.
The await g then adjourned.