s of
violence, &c. His functions are now, by the Coroners Act 1887, limited
to an inquiry upon "the dead body of a person lying within his
jurisdiction, where there is reasonable cause to suspect that such
person has died either a violent or an unnatural death, or has died a
sudden death of which the cause is unknown, or that such person has died
in prison, or in such place or under such circumstances as to require an
inquest in pursuance of any act" (S. 3), and upon treasure-trove (S.
36). The inquisition must be _super visum corporis_ (that is, after
"viewing the body"); the evidence is taken on oath; and any party
suspected may tender evidence. The Coroners Act 1887, S. 21, gives power
to the coroner to summon medical witnesses and to direct the performance
of a post-mortem examination. The verdict must be that of twelve at
least of the jury. If any person is found guilty of murder or other
homicide, the coroner shall commit him to prison for trial; he shall
also certify the material evidence to the court, and bind over the
proper persons to prosecute or to give evidence at the trial. He may in
his discretion accept bail for a person found guilty of manslaughter.
Since the abolition of public executions, the coroner is required to
hold an inquest on the body of any criminal on whom sentence of death
has been carried into effect. The duty of coroners to inquire into
treasure-trove (q.v.) is still preserved by the Coroners Act 1887,
which, however, repealed certain other jurisdictions, as,--inquests of
royal fish (whale, sturgeon) thrown ashore or caught near the coast;
inquest of wrecks, and of felonies, except felonies on inquisitions of
death. By the City of London Fire Inquests Act 1888 the duty is imposed
upon the coroner for the city to hold inquests in cases of loss or
injury by fire in the city of London and the liberties thereof situated
in the county of Middlesex. This is a practice which exists in several
European countries.

In Scotland the duties of a coroner are performed by an officer called a
procurator-fiscal.

In the United States and in most of the colonies of Great Britain the
duties of a coroner are substantially the same. In some cases his duties
are more enlarged, his inquisition embracing the origin of fires; in
others they are confined to holding inquests in cases of suspicious
deaths. Unlike a coroner in England, he is elected generally only for a
specified period.

AUTHORITIES.--Jervis,