The Nineteenth-Century Coroner in England and Wales Volume I: The Coroner's Office

Volume I: The Coroner’s Office

Acknowledgements

Chronology

Table of Statutes and Cases

General Introduction

Volume I Introduction

Part 1: The History of the Coroner and the Purpose of an Inquest

1. De Officio Coronatoris (4 Edw. 1. Stat. 2): ‘Of What Things a Coroner Shall Inquire’

2. J. Impey, Practice of the Office of Coroner (London: J. and W.T. Clarke, 5^th Edition, 1822), pp. 433–434, 437–438

3. J. Jervis, A Practical Treatise on the Office and Duties of Coroners 1st edn (London: S. Sweet, 1829), preface.

4. J. Jervis, A Practical Treatise on the Office and Duties of Coroners, 1st edn (London: S. Sweet, 1829), pp. 3–6.

5. D. Noble, ‘On the Constitution and Functions of the Coroner’s Court’, Transactions of the Manchester Statistical Society, 1859, pp. 3-19

6. R v Herford, 121 E.R. 387; (1860) 3 El. & El. 115 (extracts)

7. ‘The Select Committee on the Office of Coroner’, Unknown Newspaper, 1860.

8. W. Forsyth, ‘The Coroner’s Jury’, in History of Trial by Jury (New York: James Cockcroft and Co., 1875), pp. 186–189.

9. ‘In the Matter of G.W. Hall (sic.), Coroner for West Surrey’, Law Journal, 26 August 1883.

10. J. F. Stephen, A History of the Criminal Law of England (London: Macmillan and Co., 1883), pp. 216–219

11. Evidence of J.B. Little, First Report of the Departmental Committee Appointed to Inquire into the Law Relating to Coroners and Coroners’ Inquests (London: Parliament, 1909), Cd. 4781

Part 2: The Law and the Coroner

12. Municipal Corporations Act 1835, ss. 62–64

13. County Coroners Act 1860

14. Capital Punishment Amendment Act 1868, s. 5

15. Coroners Act 1887

16. City of London Fire Inquests Act 1888

17. Local Government Act 1888, s. 5

18. Return of Number of Coroners in England and Wales; Number of Inquests, 1835–39 (Parliament, 1840), House of Commons Papers, no. 209

19. S. F. Langham, Circular Including Extract from The Times, 31 July 1849, and Response from William Payne (London: Coroners’ Society, 1849)

20. Middlesex April Quarter Session: Report of the Special Committee Appointed at the Michaelmas Session 1850 as to the Duties and Remuneration of Coroners (London: John Thomas Norris, 1851)

21. Select Committee on Office of Coroner, Report, Proceedings, Minutes of Evidence (Parliament, 1860), House of Commons Papers, no. 193 (extracts)

22. Thomas v Churton (1862), 2 B&S 475, reported in The Jurist, August 1862 (extracts)

23. R v Ingham (1864), 5 B&S 257; 122 E.R. 827 (extracts)

24. Proceedings at a Meeting of the Parliamentary Bills Committee Held on 14 November 1877 (extracts)

25. Report of Don Bavaud v Morrison (London: Coroners’ Society, 1885)

26. J. F. J. Sykes, ‘The Coroner’s Act Amendment Bill 1888’, Public Health, 1:1 (1888), p. 19

27. J. H. Yoxall, question about jurors viewing the body at an inquest, Hansard Fourth Series, vol. 50, cols. 950–1036, 1897

28. W. Martin, ‘The Law of Treasure Trove’, Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, 56:2883 (1908), pp. 348–349

29. Minutes of a Discussion on Abolishing the Compulsory Viewing of the Body (London: Coroners’ Society, 1897)

Part 3: Contemporary Debates on the Utility and Role of the Coroner

30. ‘A Looker On’, Colliery Juries and Inquests: Pamphlet No. 3 (Newcastle: W.E. and H. Mitchell, c.1828)

31. W. Baker, A Letter Addressed to Her Majesty’s Justices of the Peace for the County of Middlesex on the Subject of the Increase of Inquests (London: Homan, 1839)

32. R v The Justices of Carmarthenshire (1847), 10 Q.B. 798

33. ‘Cumberland Quarter Sessions’, Carlisle Journal, 19 April 1850, p. 4

34. Report of a Special Committee of Magistrates of Middlesex as to the Duties and Remuneration of Coroners (London: John Thomas Norris, 1851) (extracts)

35. ‘Coroners and Magistrates’, Morning Advertiser, 2 June 1857, p. 4

36. Observations on Coroners’ Inquests by the Registrar General, July 31^st, 1858

37. ‘Magistrates and Coroners’, Durham County Advertiser, 10 September 1858, p. 2

38. ‘The Duties and Rights of Coroners’, Newcastle Journal, 27 March 1858, p. 7

39. J. T. Smith, ‘The Coroners and Justices of the Peace of England and Wales’, The Lancet, 2 April 1859, pp. 348–349

40. J. J. F. Dempsy, The Coroner’s Court, Its Uses and Abuses, with Suggestions for Reform (London: Hatton, 1858; second edition 1859) (extracts)

41. J. T. Smith, The Right Holding of the Coroner’s Court and Some Recent Interferences Therewith (London: Henry Sweet, 1859) extracts.

42. ‘Coroners’ Accounts’, North and South Shields Gazette, 28 July 1859, p. 4

43. ‘Asses on Inquests: To Coroners’ Juries Generally’, Punch, XLVII (13 August 1864), p. 61

44. H. Manisty and F.W.E. Everitt, Coroners’ Inquests: Case and Opinion of Counsel and Resolution of the Court (London: Harrison and Sons, 1875)

45. E. Herford, ‘On Alleged Defects in the Office of Coroner’, (Manchester: Manchester Statistical Society, 1877)

46. ‘Proposed Fire Inquests in the City’, Financial Times, 12 April 1888, p. 2

47. ‘Solicitor’, ‘The Coroner’, in English Justice (London: George Routledge, 1932), pp. 118–125

Part 4: The Coroners’ Court in Practice

48. M. Hale, ‘Of Deodands’, in Historia Placitorum Coronae: The History of the Pleas of the Crown (London: E. Rider, 1800)

49. J. Kennedy, ‘Of the Coroner’s Inquest’, in Treatise on the Law and Practice of Juries (London: S. Sweet, R. Pheney, A. Maxwell & Stevens & Sons, 1826), pp. 123–126

50. J.W. Pringle and J. Parkes, Report on Steam-Vessel Accidents (Parliament, 1839), House of Commons Papers, no. 273 (extracts)

51. ‘The Late Accident on the Birmingham and London Railway – Verdict of ‘Wilful Murder’ and Heavy Deodand’, Blackburn Standard, 9 December 1840, p. 4

52. ‘Monthly Law Magazine’, Atlas, 6 February 1841, p. 1

53. A Bill to Abolish Deodands (as amended by Select Committee), 10 Vict., 3 August 1846

54. R v Walley (1849), Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Queen’s Bench Practice Court, Part 145, Volume 7

55. Template Inquisition for Murder and Manslaughter (London: The Coroners’ Society, 1851)

56. S. F. Langham, Fifteenth Half-yearly Report of the Committee of the Coroners' Society (London: The Coroners' Society, December 1853)

57. T. E. Forster, Minutes of Evidence Taken before the Select Committee on Accidents in Coal Mines, 25 July 1853

58. J. Graham, Pro-forma for Calling a Jury to the Constables of the Parish of Lanchester, 16 February 1874 (N.P.)

59. Form No. 24: To the Coroner of Chester, County of Durham, Notification of the Finding of a Body, 14 February 1874

60. F. Wilson, Editor of the East Anglian Daily Times, to the Right Hon. Henry Matthews Esq. QC, Her Majesty’s Secretary of State for the Home Department, May 1887

61. ‘Saturday November 20, 1897’, The Ilkley Gazette, 20 November 1897, p. 2

62. E. Wright, The Board of Works for the Lewisham District: Mortuary and Coroner’s Court, Duties of Caretaker (London: Lewisham Board of Works, 1899)

63. J.M. Gest, ‘The Law and Lawyers of Charles Dickens’, The American Law Register, 53:7 (1905), pp. 413–414

64. P. Brown, ‘The Stone Cellars Inn’, in The Friday Book of North Country Sketches (Newcastle upon Tyne: J & P Bealls Limited, 1934), p. 47-9

65. R.B.H. Wyatt, Words to Be Spoken to the Jury After an Execution Has Taken Place (Unpublished: 1941)

66. T. Valentine Devey, Proceedings of Coroner’s Court (Easington: N.P., n.d.) (extracts)

Glossary

Index

Biography

Dr Helen J. Rutherford is Associate Professor in Law at Northumbria University Law School, Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom.