Waterbury evening Democrat., 1888-01-05
THE OFFICE OF CORONER.

THE OFFICE OF CORONER.
 '.And this is Law'-''Ay, marry it is quest aw''-Shakespeare had some knowledge in his day aud generation of the anomalies and sometimes absurdities of the Cofoner's Office. Supposed to be the most immediate officer of the British monarchy y-t the name derived from the Latin "Coronator," primarily from Cor ona,n Grown = the duties were a compound of criminal and civil execution. According to Blackstone, the criminal duty was to inquire into the manner of vio- lent death; and, mark the obligation, this was to be done by jury in sight of the body and usually at the place where the death happened. In civil aspect the Cor oner was the sheriff's substitute in execut ing process of courts, including even the hangman's ofice But there was some compensation in dignity for the last named humiliation. A Coroner, even when Grand Jury had ignored Bill of Indict- ment, could insist on the trial of a pris- oner on the inquisition of his own Court
 Opinion in Waterbury is much divided on that passage in the Mayors message ad
 vocating return to the old system of In quests, in displacement of the new which gives arbitrary power to almost wholly-ir- responsible officers, and dispenses..with the e-honored protection of trial by jury We are with the Mayor in his views on the subject; and our only emendation would be that as we had liberated our country from the domination of Kings, over a hun dred years ago, we should have sent after the battered crown of George III al asso- citations in name and in substance of that l bauble of British power. A name for the office more suitable than Coroner could have been found-could be found still However, that is not the point. The name represents an entity, and it is with that we have to deal.
 The obligation attaching to the Coroner's office are too great and too many to be I left to the individual discretion of any
 man, no matter how high his standing, or
 how noble-his purpose. We take our com
 mon law in chief part from England; and
 the most cherished privileges in the coun- try are those won from King John in the
 ''Magna Charta" of Runnymede, and the | liberties guaranteed by the Bill of Rights of King Charles. Whatever the British government may dare in Ireland, it would
 not be safe for any Minister to propose a
 suspension of Habeas Corpus England.
 Trial by jury is held as a sacred trust, to
 be guarded to the death; and the system
 is applicable to all serious questions of law, Criminal and Civil The Coroner's Jury
 is held just as important as a jury in Queens Bench or Oyer and Terminer.
 Judges and Coroners in their individuality,
 are simply men of human passions and
 prejudices; some may be ignorant
 and easily influenced by favorit- ism and fear or less approved
 considerations. It would not be well fol
 society to have miscarriage of justice to have criminal escape punishment from
 any of these causes; and it certainly would
 not be satisfactory if in a case of accident on
 rail or in factory rich corporations were to escape payment of damages to the injured
 on the unassisted decree of Coroner eith-
 CT that there was no responsibility on the l one part or that there was contributory : negligence on the other.
 It is no argument against our position that the new system has worked without complaint in these directions. The mere possibility of such is enough. At any rate the Mayors recommendation involves nc : novelty of principle or practice. It is bu reviving the old safeguard of trial by jury in matters of life and death-of right anc wrong to individuals-of responsibilitie Criminal and Civil as high as can enter in to the considerations of any Co., rt-for tn,
 Coroner's inquisition is 8 primary step il the other adjudications.
 THE Mayor in his inaugural address t.