A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death. The official may also investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within the coroner's jurisdiction.
In medieval times, English coroners were Crown officials who held financial powers and conducted some judicial investigations in order to counterbalance the power of sheriffs or bailiffs.
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 term coroner derives from the same source as the word crown .
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.
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 below under the entry for each jurisdiction. Coroners, medical examiners and forensic pathologists are different professions. [1] They have different roles and responsibilities.[ further explanation needed ]
The office of coroner originated in medieval England [2] [3] [4] and has been adopted in many countries whose legal systems have at some time been subject to English or United Kingdom law. In Middle English, the word "coroner" referred to an officer of the Crown, derived from the French couronne and Latin corona, meaning "crown". [5]
The office of the coroner dates from approximately the 11th century, shortly after the Norman conquest of England in 1066.
The office of coroner was established by lex scripta in Richard I's England. In September 1194, it was decreed by Article 20 of the "Articles of Eyre" to establish the office of custos placitorum coronae (Latin for "keeper of the pleas of the Crown"), from which the word "coroner" is derived. [6] [7] 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." [8] 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. [4] While coronial manuals written for sheriffs, bailiffs, justices of the peace and coroners were published in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, handbooks specifically written for coroners were distributed in England in the eighteenth century. [9]
Coroners were introduced into Wales following its military conquest by Edward I of England in 1282 through the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284.
Going further back in time, we find that the term comes from antiquity, namely when the deceased was entrusted to the coronator, that is to a necrofor who prepared the corpse according to custom and, among other things, put a small laurel or myrtle wreath (Lat. corona or serta) on his head so that he might be accepted in glory in the afterlife. The use was already of ancient Greece and see e. g. Theophilus Christophorus Harles (Bionis smyrnaei and Moschi syracusani quae supersunt etc. P. 40. Erlangen, 1780), who quotes Euripides, Clement of Alexandria, Chionus of Heraclea and others in this regard; see also James Claude Upshaw Downs: "The origin of official death investigation is traced to at least 44 B.C. with the Greek Physician Antistius's examination of Julius Caesar (Fisher 1993; Gawande 2001). The history of the office of coroner extends well over a millennium and has seen major evolution etc." (Coroner and Medical Examiner in Handbook of Death and Dying ed. by Clifton D. Bryant. V. 1, p. 909. 2003.)
Australian coroners are responsible for investigating and determining the cause of death for those cases reported to them. In all states and territories, a coroner is a magistrate with legal training, and is attached to a local court. Five states – New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia – also have state coroners and specialised coronial courts. In Tasmania, the Chief Magistrate also acts as the state coroner. [10]
In Brazil, almost like in the case of medical examiners, such activity has always been privative to physicians, but necessarily policeful, reason why its common denomination, Médicos-Legistas (Physician-Legists), is due to such bionicity.
In the Department of Federal Police, according to the National Association of Federal Forensic Experts (Associação Nacional dos Peritos Criminais Federais - APCF), "the Federal Forensic Expert is a police officer with technical and scientific knowledge in the service of justice and a professional specialized in finding or providing so-called material evidence through the scientific analysis of traces produced and left in the commission of crimes", [11] what, in case of the Physician-Legists (inserted in the aforementioned career), applies in relation to highly complex federal crimes involving corpses that need to be examined by the Forensic Medicine and Dentistry Sector linked to the National Institute of Criminalistics.
Throughout the federative units, the Civil Polices (in Federal District and other 8 States) or Scientific Polices (in all other 18 States) disposes of their own Legal-Medical Institutes (mainly responsible for confirming the authorship, dynamics and materiality of offenses involving living beings or their respective corpses) and, with the exception of Paraná, the Physician-Legists constitute a police career of their own.
According to Statistics Canada, [12]
Death investigation is the responsibility of each individual Canadian province and territory—there is no overarching federal authority. As a result, each province and territory has developed their own system and legislation to fulfill the mandate of investigating deaths that are unexpected, unexplained, or as a result of injuries or drugs. Two different death investigation systems have developed in Canada: the Coroner's system and the Medical Examiner's system. The Coroner's system is used in the majority of provinces and territories. It is a system that is centuries old and originated in Great Britain. It is found throughout the world in countries that were former British colonies, including Canada. The Medical Examiner's system (used in Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador) is just over one century old and originated in the United States. Although there are some differences between the two systems, the ultimate goal of each is the same—to investigate certain deaths defined in their legislation and establish the identity of the deceased together with the cause of death and the manner of death.
In 21st-century 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. [12] 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.[ citation needed ]
Coroner or Medical Examiner services are under the jurisdiction of provincial or territorial governments, and in modern Canada generally operate 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.[ citation needed ]
The provinces of Alberta, [13] Manitoba, [14] Nova Scotia [15] and Newfoundland and Labrador [16] now 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, [17] and Ontario, [18] 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.[ citation needed ]
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.
The Coroners Service is a network of Coroners situated across Ireland, usually covering areas based on Ireland's traditional counties. [19] They are appointed by local authorities as independent experts and must be either qualified doctors or lawyers. [20] Their primary function is to investigate any sudden, unexplained, violent or unnatural death in order to allow a death certificate to be issued. Any death due to unnatural causes will require an inquest to be held. [20]
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:
In Sri Lanka, the Ministry of Justice appoints Inquirers into Sudden Deaths under the Code of Criminal Procedure to carry out an inquest into the death of a sudden, unexpected and suspicious nature. Some large cities such as Colombo and Kandy have a City Coroners' Court attached to the main city hospital, with a Coroner and Additional Coroner.
Parts of this article (those related to the consequences of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009) need to be updated.(March 2010) |
In the United Kingdom a coroner is a specialist judge. Whilst coroners are appointed and paid by local authorities, they are not employees of those local authorities but rather independent judicial office holders who can be removed from office only by the Lord Chief Justice and the Lord Chancellor. The Ministry of Justice, which is headed by the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, is responsible for coronial law and policy. However it has no operational responsibility for the running of coroners' courts. [22]
There are separate coroners services for England and Wales and for Northern Ireland. There are no longer coroners in Scotland. Coroners existed in Scotland between about 1400 and 1800 when they ceased to be used. [23] Now deaths requiring judicial examination are reported to the procurator fiscal and dealt with by fatal accident inquiries conducted by the sheriff for the area.
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. The majority of deaths are not investigated by the coroner. If the deceased has been under medical care, or has been seen by a doctor within 14 days of death, then the doctor can issue a death certificate. However, if the deceased died without being seen by a doctor, or if the doctor is unwilling to make a determination, the coroner will investigate the cause and manner of death. The coroner will also investigate when a death is deemed violent or unnatural, where the cause is unknown, where a death is the result of poisoning or industrial injury, or if it occurred in police custody or prison.
The coroner's court is a court of law, and accordingly the coroner may summon witnesses. Those found to be 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.
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. [24] [25]
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. A coroner's investigation may involve a simple review of the circumstances, ordering a post-mortem examination, or they may decide that 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. [24] [25]
Coroners also have a role in treasure 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. This jurisdiction is no longer exercised by local coroners, but by specialist "coroners for treasure" appointed by the Chief Coroner.
The coroner's former power to name a suspect in the inquest conclusion and commit them for trial has been abolished. [26] The coroner's conclusion sometimes is persuasive for the police and Crown Prosecution Service, but normally proceedings in the coroner's court are suspended until after the outcome of any criminal case is known. More usually, a coroner's conclusion is also relied upon in civil proceedings and insurance claims. The coroner commonly tells the jury which conclusions are lawfully available in a particular case.
The most common short-form conclusions include: [27]
Alternatively, an inquest may return a narrative conclusion, a brief statement explaining the circumstances how the person came about their death. A coroner giving a narrative conclusion may choose to refer to the other conclusion. [28] A narrative conclusion may also consist of answers to a set of questions posed by the coroner to himself or to the jury (as appropriate).
Lawful killing includes lawful self-defence. There is no material difference between an accidental death conclusion and one of misadventure. [29] Neglect cannot be a conclusion by itself. It must be part of another conclusion. A conclusion 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. An open conclusion should only be used as a last resort and is given where the cause of death cannot be identified on the evidence available to the inquest.
Conclusions are arrived at on the balance of probabilities; prior to 2020, conclusions of suicide or unlawful killing were required to be proved to the criminal standard of beyond reasonable doubt. [30]
The coroner service in England and Wales is supervised by the Chief Coroner, a judge appointed by the Lord Chief Justice after consulting the Lord Chancellor. The Chief Coroner provides advice, guidance and training to coroners and aims to secure uniformity of practice throughout England and Wales. The post is currently part-time. The present Chief Coroner is Alexia Durran. [31]
England and Wales are divided into coroner districts by the Lord Chancellor, each district consisting of the area or areas of one or more local authorities. The relevant local authority, with the consent of the Chief Coroner and the Lord Chancellor, must appoint a senior coroner for the district. It must also appoint area coroners (in effect deputies to the senior coroner) and assistant coroners, to the number that the Lord Chancellor considers necessary in view of the physical character and population of the district. The cost of the coroner service for the district falls upon the local authority or authorities concerned, and thus ultimately upon the local inhabitants. There are 98 coroners in England and Wales, covering 109 local authority areas. [32]
To become a coroner in England and Wales the applicant must be a qualified solicitor, barrister, or a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Legal Executives (CILEx) with at least five years' qualified experience. [33] 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). Until 2013 a qualified medical practitioner could be appointed, but that is no longer possible. Any medical coroner still in office will either have been appointed before 2013, or, exceptionally, will hold both medical and legal qualifications.
Formerly, every justice of the High Court was ex officio a coroner for every district in England and Wales. This is no longer so; there are now no ex officio coroners. A senior judge is sometimes appointed ad hoc 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.
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. Northern Ireland has three coroners, who oversee the province as a whole. They are assisted by coroners' liaison officers and a medical officer. [34]
As of 2004 [update] , 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. [35] 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, even though a coroner may overrule a forensic pathologist in naming a cause of death. Some coroners are elected with others appointed. Some coroners hold office by virtue of holding another office. For example, in Nebraska, a county's district attorney is also the county's coroner. Similarly, in many counties in Texas, the justice of the peace may be in charge of death investigation. In yet other places, the sheriff may be the lawful coroner.
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 pathologist nor further specialized forensic pathologist; physicians with no experience in forensic medicine have become medical examiners. [36] In other jurisdictions, such as Wisconsin, each county sets standards, and in some, the medical examiner does not need any medical or educational qualifications. [37]
Not all U.S. jurisdictions use a coroner system for medicolegal death investigation—some operate with only a medical examiner system, while others operate 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. [38] Advocates have promoted the medical examiner model as more accurate given the more stringent qualifications. [39]
Local laws define the deaths a coroner must investigate. The most often legally required investigation is for sudden or unexpected deaths, in addition to deaths where no attending physician was present. Additionally, the law often requires investigations for deaths that are suspicious (as defined by jurisdiction) or violent. [38] In several states across the U.S., the coroner has the authority to arrest the county sheriff or assume their duties under certain circumstances. For example, in Indiana, Colorado, Idaho, Kentucky, Ohio, Alabama, and North Carolina, statutes grant coroners these powers, serving as a check on the sheriff's authority. In Ohio, the coroner can assume the sheriff’s duties if the sheriff is incapacitated or otherwise unable to act. [40] [41] [42] [43] [44] [45] [46]
Duties always include determining the cause, time and manner of death. The coroner/ME typically uses the same investigatory skills of a police detective because the answers are available from the circumstances, scene, and recent medical records. Many American jurisdictions require that any death not certified by an attending physician be referred to the medical examiner for the location where the death occurred. Only a small percentage of deaths require an autopsy to determine the time, cause and manner of death.
In some states, coroners have additional authority. For example:
This section possibly contains original research .(July 2018) |
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.
Inquests in England and Wales are held into sudden or unexplained deaths and also into the circumstances of and discovery of a certain class of valuable artefacts known as "treasure trove". In England and Wales, inquests are the responsibility of a coroner, who operates under the jurisdiction of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009. In some circumstances where an inquest cannot view or hear all the evidence, it may be suspended and a public inquiry held with the consent of the Home Secretary.
Forensic pathology is pathology that focuses on determining the cause of death by examining a corpse. A post mortem examination is performed by a medical examiner or forensic pathologist, usually during the investigation of criminal law cases and civil law cases in some jurisdictions. Coroners and medical examiners are also frequently asked to confirm the identity of remains.
The medical examiner is an appointed official in some American jurisdictions that investigates deaths that occur under unusual or suspicious circumstances, to perform post-mortem examinations, and in some jurisdictions to initiate inquests. They are necessarily trained in pathology.
Michael M. Baden is an American physician and board-certified forensic pathologist known for his work investigating high-profile deaths and as the host of HBO's Autopsy. Baden was the chief medical examiner of the City of New York from 1978 to 1979. He was also chairman of the House Select Committee on Assassinations' Forensic Pathology Panel that investigated the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
Cyril Harrison Wecht was an American forensic pathologist. He was president of both the American Academy of Forensic Sciences and the American College of Legal Medicine, and headed the board of trustees of the American Board of Legal Medicine. Wecht served as County Commissioner and Allegheny County Coroner and Medical Examiner, serving the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. He was perhaps best known for his criticism of the Warren Commission's findings concerning the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
A fatal accident inquiry (FAI) is a Scottish judicial process which investigates and determines the circumstances of some deaths occurring in Scotland. Until 2009, they did not apply to any deaths occurring in other jurisdictions, when the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 extended the Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths Inquiry (Scotland) Act 1976 to service personnel at the discretion of the Chief Coroner or the Secretary of State. The equivalent process in England and Wales is an inquest. A major review of the fatal accident inquiries was undertaken by Lord Cullen of Whitekirk, at the request of the Scottish Government, which resulted in the passing of the Inquiries into Fatal Accidents and Sudden Deaths etc. (Scotland) Act 2016.
Medical jurisprudence or legal medicine is the branch of science and medicine involving the study and application of scientific and medical knowledge to legal problems, such as inquests, and in the field of law. As modern medicine is a legal creation, regulated by the state, and medicolegal cases involving death, rape, paternity, etc. require a medical practitioner to produce evidence and appear as an expert witness, these two fields have traditionally been interdependent.
The open verdict is an option open to a coroner's jury at an inquest in the legal system of England and Wales. The verdict means the jury confirms the death is suspicious, but is unable to reach any other verdicts open to them. Mortality studies consider it likely that the majority of open verdicts are recorded in cases of suicide where the intent of the deceased could not be proved, although the verdict is recorded in many other circumstances.
The Coroner's Court of New South Wales is the court in the Australian state of New South Wales where legal proceedings, in the form of an inquest or inquiry, are held and presided over by the State Coroner of New South Wales, a Deputy State Coroner of New South Wales, or another coroner of the state of New South Wales.
The Coroner's Court of Western Australia is a court which has exclusive jurisdiction over the remains of a person and the power to make findings in respect of the cause of death of a person in Western Australia.
The name of "Coroners Court" is the generic name given to proceedings in which a Coroner holds an inquest in Victoria.
The Coroners Court of Tasmania is the generic name given to the Coronial Division of the Magistrates Court of Tasmania. It is a court which has exclusive jurisdiction over the remains of a person and the power to make findings in respect of the cause of death of a person, a fire or an explosion in Tasmania.
The Coroner's Court of South Australia is a court which has exclusive jurisdiction over the remains of a person and the power to make findings in respect of the cause of death of a person or fire in South Australia, a state of Australia.
The Coroner's Court of the Australian Capital Territory is a court which has exclusive jurisdiction over the remains of a person and the power to make findings in respect of the cause of death of a person or fire in Australian Capital Territory.
The title of Coroners Court is the name given to proceedings in which a coroner holds an inquest or an inquiry in the Northern Territory.
An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdictions, particularly one held to determine the cause of a person's death. Conducted by a judge, jury, or government official, an inquest may or may not require an autopsy carried out by a coroner or medical examiner. Generally, inquests are conducted only when deaths are sudden or unexplained. An inquest may be called at the behest of a coroner, judge, prosecutor, or, in some jurisdictions, upon a formal request from the public. A coroner's jury may be convened to assist in this type of proceeding. Inquest can also mean such a jury and the result of such an investigation. In general usage, inquest is also used to mean any investigation or inquiry.
Paul Knapman DL was Her Majesty's coroner for Westminster, from 1980 to 2011. His responsibility for investigating sudden deaths as an independent judicial officer saw him preside over numerous notable cases.
In many legal jurisdictions, the manner of death is a determination, typically made by the coroner, medical examiner, police, or similar officials, and recorded as a vital statistic. Within the United States and the United Kingdom, a distinction is made between the cause of death, which is a specific disease or injury, versus manner of death, which is primarily a legal determination, versus the mechanism of death, which does not explain why the person died or the underlying cause of death and can include cardiac arrest or exsanguination.
A coroner in the U.S. state of Washington is a quasi-judicial, public official principally charged with the certification of human death. It is completely identical in authority to the parallel office of medical examiner, which also exists in the state. Washington uses a "mixed system" of death investigation with some counties employing coroners, and some employing medical examiners.
The National Coronial Information System (NCIS) is a national database of coronial information on every death reported by a Coroner in Australia from July 2000 (Queensland from July 2001) and New Zealand from July 2007. It assists coroners, their staff, public sector agencies, researchers and other agencies in obtaining coronial data to inform death and injury prevention activities.
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