The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-10-30
CANNOT HOLD |NQUESTs
Decision in Relation to Justices
.. of the Peace.
CASE IN TWIN BRIDGES
The Coroner Must Be Absent From the
a5 County in Order That the Justices
y May Legally Perform His
W
Duties.


special correspondence OF the Standard.
:. Twin Bridges, Oct. ga justice of
the peace cannot legally hold an in
quest unless the county coroner is ab-
sent from the county, at least so says
County Attorney M. NJ. Duncan in a
written opinion. For some time past
the justices in this end Of the county
have been holding the inquests, as it
IS 30 miles to the county seat and time
and expense to the taxpayers was
saved. The county commissioners have
always allowed the bills for said ser
vices, and a controversy has existed
between Coroner Lowman and the JUS
tices. The county attorney was asked
his opinion and construction of section
4494 of the political code of Montana
granting justices of the peace power
to conduct coroner's inquests under
certain circumstances. In his opinion
the county attorney says, after quot
ing this section: IF the Office of cor
oner is vacant, or he is unable to at
tend, the duties of his office may be
discharged by any justice of the peace
In the county, with like authority and
subject to the same obligations and
penalties Under this section, when
can justice of the peace legally ex-
ercise the duties Of coroner? Only
when one of three contingencies arise
is justice of the peace authorized to
act, which are: First, when there is
no coroner; second, when the coroner
is, absent; third, when he is unable
to act 1t is under the second of these
that you desire my opinion. When
is a coroner absent" in the sense
stated by the statute? Must he be
absent from the county, or simply
from the immediate vicinity where the
dead body is found, in order to give
justice of the peace authority to
act? I was at first inclined to favor
the latter construction of this section
(the meaning of the section taken
alone is at best vague), but
fully. have concluded that in
the absence of statute so de2lar
ing, justice Of the peace has no pow
er to perform the duties of coroner.
The statute must have a reasonable
construction. The evident intent of
the law-making power was to provide
for case where the inquest could
not be held by coroner An inquest
must be held in the county where the
dead body is found. Under other pro-
visions Of the statute than those quot
ed, whenever the coroner is notified
of the finding of a dead body in his
county, under certain specified condi
tons, it is made his duty Immediately
to proceed to view it, and in certain
cases to hold an inquest. His juris-
diction is co-extensive with the coun-
>ty. In this state, he is not limited to
the holding of an inquest upon a body
found within a specified distance from
the place of his residence, as the stat
utes of some of the states provide
So long as he is able to act and is
present in the county there is no rea-
son why he should not perform all of
his statutory duties. and in all such
cases the holding of inquests is spe-
officially enjoined upon him.
A late case directly in point, con-
STRUNG statute authorizing a justice
Of the peace to hold an inquest sin the
absence of the coroner decided in
Illinois, the court said: The rule
that a Justice might hold an inquest
whenever it would be inconvenient to
notify the coroner, or to wait for his
attendance, would be too uncertain in
its application. How far must the
coroner be from the subject of the in
quest? What physical conditions must
exist? Will it do for the justice to
proceed because there is no commune
cation by telephone of telegraph with
the coroner, or because there is no
railroad between the places, or no train
for several hours? We do not see how
there could be any rule of that kind
capable of application. We think
That coroner IS entitled to perform
the duties and receive the fees of his
office, and that it is only in the event
of his absence from the county that
the statute authorizes a justice of the
peace to act in his place" This rule
of construction commends' itself to
me as the correct one. Were any
other construction to be placed upon
section 4494 of our political code the
official duties of the coroner and his
right to the fees OF his office would
thereby be circumvented. Any other
construction of the statute would sim
ply render negatory the statute Gre
ating the office of coroner, and in eff
feet destroy the office. Possibly, in
justice to the taxpayers of the state.
this law creating the office of coroner
and defining his duties should be
modified so as to give justices con-
current jurisdiction with that of the
coroner in cases of inquests over dead
bodies, or. possibly, the office of cor
oner should be absolutely abolished
and the duties Of the office, transferred
to the justices of the peace. How
ever, as the law now stands, 1t is my
opinion that no justice OF the peace
is authorized to hold an inquest over
a dead body, provided there is a quail
ified coroner that he is able to act,
and that he is. present in the county
1t being illegal for justice of the
peace to perform the duties of a cor
oner when these conditions exist, it
naturally follows. that it is illegal for
him to be paid by the county the cor
oner's fees for sach illegal services