And lastly, by the writ _De Coronatore exonerando_, _F.N.B._ 163. 164: he may be discharged for negligence, or insufficiency, in the discharge of his duty, and when coroners are so far engaged in any other public business that they cannot attend the office; or if they be disabled by old age or disease, or have not sufficient lands, or live in an inconvenient part of the county. 2 _Inst._ 32. 2 _Hawk. P.C._ _c._ 9. _s._ 12. But if any such writ be obtained on an untrue suggestion, the coroner may procure a commission out of Chancery to enquire thereof; and the king may grant a supercedeas of the writ. _Reg. Orig._ 177. 178. _F.N.B._ 164. As the coroner’s is an office of freehold, the Court of Chancery will not suffer the writ to issue, unless on affidavit that the defendant has been served with notice of the petition for it. 3 _Atk._ 184. On the election of a new coroner the office of the old one is _ipso facto_ extinguished. We have entered more fully into this description of the office and duties of coroner in general, as we deem the due execution of them to be of the utmost importance to the public welfare; not indeed intending it as a guide to coroners themselves, for to that purpose it would be insufficient; but to give some insight into the nature and character of the office, to those who may, from time to time, be called upon to aid its administration. It is however necessary for us to add that there are some exceptions to the above mentioned rules, arising out of local customs and peculiar jurisdictions; thus the Lord Mayor of London is by virtue of his office, coroner within the City, and the Court is holden before him or his deputy. 4 _Inst._ 250. And other places, as some of the Royal residences, &c. have their separate coroners; but all, whatever the mode of election or appointment, are in cases of misconduct subject to the jurisdiction of the Court of King’s Bench. SUICIDE. Self-murder is ranked among the higher crimes, being a peculiar species of felony, as implied in the technical term _felo de se_. To constitute this offence, the party must be in his senses, else it is no crime; but this excuse ought not to be strained to that length to which our coroner’s juries are too apt to carry it,[88] viz. that the very act of suicide is an evidence of insanity; as if every man who acts contrary to reason, had no reason at all; for the same argument would prove every other criminal _non compos_, as well as the self-murderer. The law very rationally judges, that every melancholy or hypochondriac fit does not deprive a man of the capacity of discerning right from wrong; and, therefore, if a real lunatic kills himself in a lucid interval, he is _felo de se_ as much as another man. 1 _Hales, P. C._ 412. 1 _Hawk. P. C._ _c._ 27, _s._ 3.