The Sun.
London, England, 1826-04-20 00:00:00

coßomas,!::i

Petition is now before the House of Commons,
:praying for an increase in the fees of these Officers. It
-
may, perhaps, therefore, prove interesting to make a little
inquiry into their duties and the emolunients at pre-
sent derived from the Office.
~„
The office is indeed one of the most ancient re-
cognized by the Common Law, and the name is de-
rived a corona, " because he is an Officer Of the
. Crown, and bath conusance of some pleas which are
called Placita Corona'," or Pleas of the Crown. Ac-
cordingly, the Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench
is held to be the chief Coroner of the .Kingdom, and
may, if he please, exercise its functions in any part of
the realm. Independently of this high. Officer, how-
ever, every county has distinct coroners of its own, al-
though the number variesaccording to the extent of the
county ; but, for the most part, they are four or six.
These County Coroners are elected by the freeholders,
in the County Court of the Sheriff, the manner of con-
ducting which election is regulated by the act 58
Geo. 111. c. 95. To authorise the Sheriff to proceed
to this election, a writ issues out of the Court of Chan- ,
eery, called a writ de coronatore eligendo. Almost any
person is now deemed qualified to undertake this office,
• was ,
more regarded, and
.but in ancient times its dignity
was
man has been removed from the office because he was
a common merchant, a statute of EdWard 111. requir-
ing that none but lawful and discreet knights should
be chosen. Once elected, the coroner holds his office
for life, except indeed that the crown, for cause as-
signed, may issue a new writ, de coronatore eligendo,
setting forth that cause, and in this manner remove a
coroner from his office. The duties of a coroner are
various, but they are diitinctly set forth in a very
ancient Act of Parliament, entitled De officio coro-
natoris. By this Act, besides the common business
of inquiring into the cause of the death of persons
found dead (a duty which he is bound to perform
under a penalty of 100 shillings to the King—see 3
Henry VII. c: 1,. is to. make inquisition
of the lands and &Kids of murderem, of. treasure
trove, of appeals of rape, and of wounds and maims,
of wreck of the sea, and of suspected 'persons.---
It appears too that all inquiries concerning the death
of a man Must be made super visum corporis, upon
view of the body ; for if .the body be not found, the
coroner can do nothing. This doctrine was fully con-
firmed by the court of. King's Bench in the 'case of
the King against Ferrand, Mich, Term, 60 Geo, 3,
and where it is laid down, that if the body should hap.
pen to be buried, the coroner may direct it to be disin-
terred within fourteen days from the. day of burial.
The next requisite in these inquests is, that they be
taken at the place where the, death happened, that to
say, within, the parish, for it is hardly to be .expccted
they could be held on, the very Rot where the, body,
was found. Inquisitions thus taken must be engrossed
on parchment, and signed and' sealed by the coroner,
and the jurors who found the verdict, and then re-•
turned to the King's Bench, or the Assizes. If any
be found guilty on these- inqUests,' the-Coroner is to
issue his warrant for their apprehension and committal
to prison, for trial, but there his authority is at an end, fot
the Law then consigns the guilty parties to the cnstody.
of its more regidar officers, and deals with them as with
prisoners committed by a justice of peice, except that
it dispenses with' the finding of a bill of indictment by
the grand 'jury, but sendi them to trial on the verdict
of the coroners inquest alone.
In the exercise of these functions, it must be at once
perceived, that a coroner has necessarily many miles to
travel,, and that his duty cannot, therefore, be dis-
charged but at a considerable cost to himself. Never-
theless this Officer, in former, days, like Sheriffs of the
present time, WA! not only not, remunerated for his ser-
vices, but expressly prohibited by statute from taking or
accepting any fee whatever, under pain "of great for-
feiture :to the King." The act 3H.7,c. 1, s. 4,
however, allowed him a- fee of 13s. 4d. for every in-
quisition taken upon view of a body slain; and which
was to be paid out .of the goods of the murderer, or, in
default thereof, "out of any amerceinent as :shall for-
tune any township to be amerced, for the escape of the
murderer." ..Payments depending. upon such precarious
funds, could not at any time be very secure ; but, ne..
vertheless, this remained the law of the land until the
25 Geo. 2, when the same' fee was confirmed to the
coroner, with the addition of 20 shillings for every ,1
inquisition, except those 'taken in gaols, and niti6-'
pence per mile for travelling expences, the same to be
paid out of the county rates. For inquisitions
taken in gaols, the 'fee to be paid is in the '
discretion 'of the Justices, and it seems by the case
of the King v. the Justices of Kent, Easter 'Term,
49 Geo. 8, that the allowance is by no means compul-
sory. The nine-pence per mile also is held: only to
comprehend the journey to the place of taking the
inquest, and so it was 'decided in the case of the
King v. the Justices of 'Oxfordshire, 'Mich. Term,
59 -Geo. 3rd. This last however''' con-
sonant, to the words of. the Act' en which 'it was
made, is scarcely reponoileahle, to :common justice,
for it should,
,seem that the same principle which
allowed a sum of money to defray the expellees of the
Coroner on his road to discharge his duty, would most
imperiously demand a like sum for his return. In this
rep; ect the law would indeed admit of amendment, and
calls forcibly for the interference of the Legislature. In
local jurisdictions or places not contributing to the
county rate, the Coroner for that district is not enti-
tled 'to any remuneration, under the Act of Geo. 11.,
end thus the coroners of the verge, of the admiralty,
of :the county palatine,
of- Durham, of the City of
London, &c. (see Chitty's Blackstone, 1 vol. 347),
are excluded; a doctrine fully -supported by, the ease- of
the King against the Justices of the West Riding of
Yorkshire, Michaelmas Term, 97 Geo. 111.
This is but an abstract of the law regarding coroners,
but may, notwithstanding,' serve to spew the grounds on
which
may
claim of the coroners to an, increased allow
ance be presuined to rest. For ourselves, we offer
no opinion. further than this short remark, that the
produce of the county rate is already very heavily
en-
cumbered, and an Act is even now before Parliament,
imposing upon it the additional burden of.the costs of
all criminal prosecutions.'