Coroner

For other uses, see Coroner (disambiguation).

A coroner is a government official whose standard role is to confirm and certify the death of an individual within a jurisdiction. A coroner may also conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death, and investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within the coroner's jurisdiction. In England, where the role originated, a coroner also deals with treasure trove cases. In medieval times, English coroners were crown officials who held financial powers and conducted some judicial investigations in order to counterbalance to the power of sheriffs.

The word coroner derives from the same source as the word crown, and denotes an officer of the crown. The Spanish etymological cognate for a crown officer, coronel, designates a colonel.

Duties and functions

Responsibilities of the coroner may include overseeing the investigation and certification of deaths related to mass disasters that occur within the coroner's jurisdiction. A coroner's office typically maintains death records of those who have died within the coroner's jurisdiction.

Depending on the jurisdiction, the coroner may adjudge the cause of death personally, or may act as the presiding officer of a special court (a "coroner's jury"). The office of coroner originated in medieval England[1][2] and has been adopted in many countries whose legal systems have at some time been subject to English or United Kingdom law. The additional roles that a coroner may oversee in judicial investigations may be subject to the attainment of suitable legal and medical qualifications. The qualifications required of a coroner vary significantly between jurisdictions, and are described under the entry for each jurisdiction.

In Middle English, the word "coroner" referred to an officer of the crown, derived from the French couronne and Latin corona, meaning "crown".[3]

Canada

In Canada the officer responsible for investigating all unnatural and natural unexpected, unexplained, or unattended deaths goes under the title "coroner" or "medical examiner" depending on location.[4] While the title differs, however, they act in similar capacities. They do not determine civil or criminal responsibility, but instead make and offer recommendations to improve public safety and prevention of death in similar circumstances.

Coroner or Medical Examiner services are under the jurisdiction of provincial or territorial governments, generally within the public safety and security or justice portfolio. These services are headed by a Chief Coroner (or Chief Medical Examiner) and comprise coroners or medical examiners appointed by the executive council.

The provinces of Alberta,[5] Manitoba,[6] Nova Scotia[7] and Newfoundland and Labrador[8] have a Medical Examiner system, meaning that all death investigations are conducted by specialist physicians trained in Forensic Pathology, with the assistance of other medical and law enforcement personnel. All other provinces run on a coroner system. In Prince Edward Island, and Ontario, all coroners are, by law, physicians. In the other provinces and territories with a coroner system, namely British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Quebec, New Brunswick, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon, coroners are not necessarily physicians but generally have legal, medical, or investigative backgrounds.

Hong Kong

The Coroner's Court is responsible to inquire into the causes and circumstances of some deaths. The Coroner is a judicial officer who has the power to:

The Coroner makes orders after considering the pathologist's report.

New Zealand

Two coronial services operate in New Zealand. The older one deals only with deaths before midnight of 30 June 2007 that remain under investigation. The new system operates under the Coroners Act 2006, which:

United Kingdom

England and Wales

In England and Wales a coroner is an independent judicial office holder, appointed and paid for by the relevant local authority. The Ministry of Justice, which is headed by the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice has the responsibility for the coronial law and policy only, and no operational responsibility.[10]

History

The post dates from approximately the 11th century, shortly after the Norman conquest of England in 1066.

The office of coroner was formally established in England by Article 20 of the "Articles of Eyre" in September 1194 to "keep the pleas of the Crown" (Latin, custos placitorum coronae) from which the word "coroner" is derived.[11] This role provided a local county official whose primary duty was to protect the financial interest of the crown in criminal proceedings. The office of coroner is, "in many instances, a necessary substitute: for if the sheriff is interested in a suit, or if he is of affinity with one of the parties to a suit, the coroner must execute and return the process of the courts of justice."[12] This role was qualified in Chapter 24 of Magna Carta in 1215, which states: "No sheriff, constable, coroner or bailiff shall hold pleas of our Crown." "Keeping the pleas" was an administrative task, while "holding the pleas" was a judicial one that was not assigned to the locally resident coroner but left to judges who traveled around the country holding Assize Courts. The role of custos rotulorum or keeper of the county records became an independent office, which after 1836 was held by the Lord Lieutenant of each county. The person who found a body from a death thought sudden or unnatural was required to raise the "hue and cry" and to notify the coroner.

Coroners were introduced into Wales following its military conquest by Edward I of England in 1282 through the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284.

Jurisdiction

Any person aware of a dead body lying in the district of a coroner has a duty to report it to the coroner; failure to do so is an offence. This can include bodies brought into England or Wales. The coroner has a team of Coroner's Officers (previously often ex-police officers, but increasingly from a nursing or other paramedical background) who carry out the investigation on the coroner's behalf. On the basis of the investigation, the coroner decides whether an inquest is appropriate. When a person dies in the custody of the legal authorities (in police cells, or in prison), an inquest must be held. In England, inquests are usually heard without a jury (unless the coroner wants one). However, a case in which a person has died under the control of central authority must have a jury, as a check on the possible abuse of governmental power.

The coroner's court is a court of law, and accordingly the coroner may summon witnesses, and people found lying are guilty of perjury.

Additional powers of the coroner may include the power of subpoena and attachment, the power of arrest, the power to administer oaths, and sequester juries of six during inquests.

Coroners also have a role in treasure trove cases. This role arose from the ancient duty of the coroner as a protector of the property of the Crown. It is now contained in the Treasure Act 1996.

Qualification

To become a coroner in England and Wales the applicant must have a degree in a medical or legal field, e.g., criminology or bio-medical sciences. Coroners must have had a previous career, in the UK, as a lawyer (solicitor/barrister) or physician of at least five years standing. This reflects the role of a coroner: to determine the cause of death of a deceased in cases where the death was sudden, unexpected, occurred abroad, was suspicious in any way, or happened while the person was under the control of central authority (e.g., in police custody).

Aside from the usual coroners, certain persons are ex officio coroners in limited circumstances—for example the Lord Chancellor has been historically allowed to certify the death of someone killed in rebellion. A senior judge is sometimes appointed as a deputy coroner to undertake a high-profile inquest, such as those into the deaths of Diana, Princess of Wales and the victims of the 2005 London bombings.[13]

Inquest

The coroner's jurisdiction is limited to determining who the deceased was and how, when and where they came by their death. When the death is suspected to have been either sudden with unknown cause, violent, or unnatural, the coroner decides whether to hold a post-mortem examination and, if necessary, an inquest.

Verdict

The coroner's former power to name a suspect for trial upon inquisition has been abolished. The coroner's verdict sometimes is persuasive for the police and Crown Prosecution Service, but normally proceedings in the coroner's court are suspended until after the final outcome of any criminal case is known. More usually, a coroner's verdict is also relied upon in civil proceedings and insurance claims. The coroner commonly tells the jury which verdicts are lawfully available in a particular case.

The most common verdicts include:[14]

See also (English Coroner)

Notes (English Coroner)

Lawful killing includes lawful self-defence. There is no material difference between an accidental death verdict and one of misadventure.[15]

The verdicts of suicide and unlawful killing require proving beyond reasonable doubt. Other verdicts are arrived at on the balance of probabilities.

A verdict of neglect requires that there was a need for relevant care (such as nourishment, medical attention, shelter or warmth) identified, and there was an opportunity to offer or provide that care that was not taken. Neglect can be ruled an aggravating factor in other verdicts as well as a freestanding verdict.[16]

An open verdict is given where the cause of death cannot be identified on the evidence available to the inquest.

A coroner giving a narrative verdict may choose to refer to the other verdicts.[17] A narrative verdict may also consist of answers to a set of questions posed by the Coroner to himself or to the jury (as appropriate).

Northern Ireland

Coronial services in Northern Ireland are broadly similar to those in England and Wales, including dealing with treasure trove cases under the Treasure Act 1996.

Scotland

In Scotland there are no coroners. Deaths requiring judicial examination are reported to the Procurator Fiscal and dealt with by Fatal Accident Inquiries conducted by the Sheriff for the area.

United States

As of 2004, of the 2,342 death investigation offices in the United States, 1,590 were coroners offices, 82 of which served jurisdictions of more than 250,000 people.[18] Qualifications for coroners are set by individual states and counties in the U.S., and vary widely. In many jurisdictions, little or no training is required, although a coroner may overrule a forensic pathologist in naming a cause of death. Some coroners are elected, and others appointed. Some coroners hold office by virtue of holding another office: in Nebraska, the county district attorney is the coroner; in many counties in Texas, the Justice of the Peace may be in charge of death investigation; in other places, the sheriff is the coroner. This last is an historical irony, given clause 24 of Magna Carta, which prohibited royal officials such as sheriffs, rather than judges, from trying a crime.

In different jurisdictions the terms "coroner" and "medical examiner" are defined differently. In some places, stringent rules require that the medical examiner be a forensic pathologist. In others, the medical examiner must be a physician, though not necessarily a forensic pathologist or even a pathologist; physicians with no experience in forensic medicine have become medical examiners.[19] In others, such as Wisconsin, each county sets standards, and in some, the medical examiner does not need any medical or educational qualifications.[20]

Not all U.S. jurisdictions use a coroner system for medicolegal death investigation—some are on a medical examiner system, others are on a mixed coroner-medical examiner system. In the U.S., the terms "coroner" and "medical examiner" vary widely in meaning by jurisdiction, as do qualifications and duties for these offices.[21]

Local laws define the deaths a coroner must investigate, but most often include those that are sudden, unexpected, and have no attending physician—and deaths that are suspicious or violent.[21] In some places in the United States, a coroner has other special powers, such as the ability to arrest the county sheriff.

Duties

Duties always include determining the cause, time, and manner of death. This uses the same investigatory skills of a police detective in most cases, because the answers are available from the circumstances, scene, and recent medical records. In many American jurisdictions, any death not certified by the person's own physician must be referred to the medical examiner. If an individual dies outside of his/her state of residence, the coroner of the state in which the death took place issues the death certificate. Only a small percentage of deaths require an autopsy to determine the time, cause and manner of death.

In some states, additional functions are handled by the coroner. For example, in Louisiana, coroners are involved in the determination of mental illness of living persons. In Georgia, the coroner has the same powers as a county sheriff to execute arrest warrants and serve process, and in certain situations where there is no sheriff, in addition to conducting cause and manner of death investigations and inquests,[22] the coroner officially acts as sheriff for the county. This is also the case in Colorado.[23] Also in North Carolina, the coroner exists in approximately 65 counties by law, but is only an active office on ten.[24] In Kentucky, section 72.415 of the Kentucky Revised Statutes gives coroners and their deputies the full power and authority of peace officers. This includes the power of arrest and the authority to carry firearms. In North Carolina, in the counties that have coroners, they are set forth as common law peace officers, yet the coroner of the county also has judicial powers; not only to investigate cause and manner of death, but to conduct inquests, issue court orders, to empanel a coroner's jury and to act as Sheriff in certain cases or even arrest the Sheriff for cause. Beginning in 2015, the NC Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) began optional training for coroners to become special assistant medical examiner investigators (NC CH130A & 152). In New York City, the office of coroner was actually abolished in 1915,[25] since before that time, having medical knowledge was not actually a requirement, leading to much abuse of position.[26]

Notable coroners

Artistic depictions

Film

Literature

(The following entries are organized by author's last name)

Television

Although coroners are often depicted in police dramas as a source of information for detectives, there are a number of fictional coroners who have taken particular focus on television. (The following entries are alphabetized by program title.)

Non-Britannic equivalents

The equivalent offices in other nations not evolved from the office established in the British Isles include:

See also

References

  1. ↑ "coroner". Encyclopædia Britannica, 2009. Accessed 10 August 2009.
  2. ↑ Coroner History. Lycoming County, Pennsylvania. Accessed 10 August 2009.
  3. ↑ "coroner". Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam Webster. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  4. ↑ Introduction: Coroner Canadian Medical Examiner Database: Annual Report
  5. ↑ "Office of the Chief Medical Examiner". justice.alberta.ca. Alberta Justice and Solicitor General. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
  6. ↑ "The Role of the Chief Medical Examiner's Office". www.gov.mb.ca. Manitoba Justice. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  7. ↑ "Nova Scotia Medical Examiner Service". www.gov.ns.ca. Nova Scotia. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  8. ↑ "Office of the Chief Medical Examiner". www.justice.gov.nl.ca. Newfoundland - Labrador Department of Justice. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  9. ↑ "Welcome to the Coronial Services of New Zealand". New Zealand Ministry of Justice. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
  10. ↑ "Coroners - Ministry of Justice". Retrieved 2007-11-03.
  11. ↑ "Online Etymology Dictionary".
  12. ↑ James Wilson, Lectures on Law, vol. 2, chapter 7
  13. ↑ https://www.judiciary.gov.uk/about-the-judiciary/the-justice-system/coroners/
  14. ↑ "Enforcement Guide (England & Wales) - Work-related deaths and inquests - Chronology".
  15. ↑ R v Portsmouth Coroner ex parte Anderson (1987) 1 WLR 1640
  16. ↑ R v N Humberside and Scunthorpe Coroner ex parte Jamieson [1994] 3 All ER 972
  17. ↑ R v HM Coroner for the County of West Yorkshire ex parte Sacker [2004] UKHL 11.
  18. ↑ J.M. Hickman, K.A. Hughes, K.J. Strom, and J.D. Ropero-Miller, Medical Examiners and Coroners’ Offices, (2004). U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics Special Report NCJ216756.
  19. ↑ Frontline: Post Mortem
  20. ↑ Keach, Jenifer. Coroners and Medical Examiners A Comparison of Options Offered by Both Systems in Wisconsin (2006)
  21. 1 2 National Academy of Sciences, Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward, (2009), p 241-253.
  22. ↑ Title 15, Chapter 16, Section 8 of Georgia law and Ch. 152 of NC law
  23. ↑ Section 30-10-604, Colorado revised statutes
  24. ↑ Section 30-10-604, Colorado Revised Statutes.
  25. ↑ Section 284, New York State Laws of 1915
  26. ↑ Helpern, Milton (1977). "Beginnings". Autopsy : the memoirs of Milton Helpern, the world's greatest medical detective. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 12–13. ISBN 0-451-08607-4.
  27. ↑ The real 'Kay Scarpetta' retires - updated 6:37 p.m. ET Jan. 1, 2008 (By Lisa Billings / AP) - TODAY: Books - MSNBC.com
  28. ↑ CBC Television Series, 1952-1982: Wojeck

External links

Look up coroner in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Official websites

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