Anomalies of the English lawChester, S. Beach (Samuel Beach)
History
Anomalies of the English law
Chester, S. Beach (Samuel Beach)
Law; Law -- Great Britain -- History
Section 7. “Every coroner’s district shall be provided by the
authority who appoints the coroner with suitable accommodation for
holding inquests, and with a coroner’s officer or officers and other
assistance as may be necessary for the proper carrying out of the
duties of the office of coroner.”
This provision sounds very well in theory, but are not most populous
centres already equipped with the necessary facilities for conducting
an inquiry? If any such populous centre exists which is not so
equipped, then the provision is most essential. But in outlying country
districts, to centralise the place of inquiry would involve carting
the dead body a great distance, to the probable discomfiture and
inconvenience of the surviving relatives. In average cases, there is no
special need to subject a dead body to more than ordinary scientific
investigation, as near the place of death as possible, to fulfil the
intentions of the law, and to have it tumbled across a county and back,
with incidental delays is, one may safely say, somewhat unnecessary,
if the natural feelings of surviving relatives are to be considered.
An ordinary country house is usually sufficiently well adapted for
the purposes of holding a _post mortem_ examination and a coroner’s
inquiry. The customary system of using a local inn is not altogether
bad, either, when it is remembered what a small number of inquests are
anything like necessary in country districts.
Section 9. “Notwithstanding anything in subsection (1) of section
three of the Coroners’ Act, 1887, a coroner after due inquiry into
any case referred to him may decide not to hold an inquest if he is
satisfied that the deceased died a natural death.... For the purposes
of an inquiry under this section, the coroner may order a _post mortem_
examination, and the cost of such examination, being such sum as the
Secretary of State may by regulation prescribe, shall be defrayed as if
the examination were made in connexion with an inquest.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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