The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1891-10-13
,CRQVNHR'S QUES9LAW'.
Continued from First page.

NOftttitNCUJ TObb Gc Vby0s
be got at the door, the other Coroner
slipped in and locked him out. This is
only one of ,imilar cases Of rivalry for
the possession of dead bodies.
A PHYSICIANS OPINION.
DIR. Dougias MaclagaD, Professor OF
Forensic Medicine in the Universt = OF
Edinburgh, says of h Corouer's To-
quest.-sI must honestly confess | have
not been able to shake out of myself that
as ii now exists the Coroner's Inquest is
an a~nAchronisin and an anomaly. 1t Is
al anachronism because, though 1t may
have been we'll suited for the time OF the
Plantagenets, in which 1t first took
shape it is uDSuited to the requirements
Of the present day. AS originally con-
stituted. It's main dependence Was upon
the fact that the ju.y was not merely
Theoretically. but practically. composed OF
the %neIghbprs. OF the dead man, whose
knowledge OF him was expected To supply
some Of that information regarding the
PROBABLE cause or his death, which med-
ico-legpl science, then not In exis ence,
Gun nok supply with some degree of Ger
taintyl 1t WAS for just such reasons AS
quoted DIR. Macla4un that Massachu-
sets D Nvay the Coroner and MS cor
rupt D ces. IN that county. which
includ( Weton. Chelsea, and the two
LownssN Revere and Winthrop. there
were NrIy-ssven cOtoners in 1877; now
Two IIlfQlCult fduliutEs duV OuC dooVOldOC
~oficera accomplish the same work in a
more satisfactory manner.
NewIJerAsy with it's numerous railroad
terminals, railroads passing through
cities IN grades and its extensive sea-
shore front needs some comprehensive
aud active system for the investiga-
ton on deaths. For the precedence
shows conclusively that the system now
in vog1e In. New Jersey is Il bad one.
The bebt substitute that has been offered
is that of Massachusetts. The Massa-
chusetds law is entirely too long TO be
quoted but It's servient parts can be
stated Us foilows:-"The Governor shall
nominate and appoint able anu discreet
men, leIarned in the science of medicine,
to be medical examiners. Whea a body
is found, aud a careful examination Is
necessary to ascertain the cause OF death,
they shall notify the District Attorney or
Mayor bf the condition OF affairs and re-
caive orders from them for the autopsy.
If The death is caused by violence they
police. And one OF these or all of them
will then lake up the legal in
uuiry into the cause OF death.
The bresiding Justice or trial
Justice shall, after hearing testimony,
draw UP and sign a report in which he
shall define aud certify when and where,
and by what means, the person deceased
came id his death. If the Justice fluids
that murder, ~mauslaughter or an assault
has beeh committed, he may bind over as
in criminal prosecution. such witnesses as
he deen}s necessary, or as the District
Attorney may designate" This idea may
be enlaIged on when The matter is dis
cussed by the medical societies. After
the matter has been thoroughly looked
into, a bill will be drafted, based upon
the Massachusetts bill, and introduced in
the Legislature. Then will begin the fight
betweel the medical societies and the
Coronerh' Association. Last winter several
bills were pending in the Legislature in
tendingl TO increase the perquisltes of the
coronerl To get them through, the
Coronerh formed a State association. 1t
may be Expected that this State associa-
ton will fight The bill intending to do
away with the coroners, aud in all proba-
bilities it will be i'm apostolic to get the bill
through in a year or two, but the fight
will 60 On just as merrily
The new system will be vastly cheaper
than tho present one. How much can not
be stated now in cold figures, but it is es-
timated that the difference Will be about
forty or fifty per ceut. In Massachusetts,.
under the old law, there were held in
three counties 1874 inquests In three years.
In the same counties and In the same
time, under the new law, there were but
rs Investigations.