Second report of the Departmental Committee appointed to inquire into the law relating to coroners and coroners' inquests, and into the practice in coroners' courts.

  • Great Britain. Committee on Coroners.
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Second report of the Departmental Committee appointed to inquire into the law relating to coroners and coroners' inquests, and into the practice in coroners' courts. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    11/232 (page 7)
    that there is no public ground for holding an inquest, and thereby saves unnecessary should, so to speak, be fined for his good conduct. It is not right to put a coroner (and still less his officer) in the position of having a pecuniary motive for holding unnecessary inquests. In connection with the remuneration of coroners we may observe that the law at present makes no provision for clerical assistance. The coroner’s court is the only court to which some officer in the nature of a clerk is not attached. Apart from taking depositions and drawing up inquisitions, the coroner has to make various returns, fill up certificates, and in certain cases furnish copies of depositions. We think that in the larger courts a regular clerk ought to be provided, and that in the smaller courts an allowance ought to be made for clerical assistance. Age Limit. 6. Apart from one or two elective franchise coronerships, a coroner holds office during good behaviour. He may be removed by the Lord Chancellor for inability or misbehaviour, and in the case of conviction for certain offences, he may be adjudged by the court to be removed from his office. Practically, a coroner holds office for life unless or until he chooses to resign. The Lord Chancellor would naturally be very loth to remove a coroner merely on the ground of advancing age. The duties of a coroner are such that it is essential to their efficient performance that he should be both mentally and physically alert. To secure this there cught. to be an age limit at which retirement is compulsory, and we think that compulsory retirement at the age of 65 should be enforced in the case of all future appoint- RnnST-9. . 11,493- 8. 7694-704. . 8129-31. Q. 11,467. Q. 10,949- 51. Q. 11,478. ROO OO Q. 81-102. Q. 3806-1]. of office for a further period not exceeding five years. © Pensions. 7. If our suggestion as to an age limit be approved, it follows, we think, that ‘the office of coroner should be pensionable in every case in which it is a whole-time office, 2.e., where the coroner devotes the whole of his time to the work and is debarred from practising any other profession. There would then be no hardship in calling on a coroner to retire when he reached the age limit. In districts where the number of inquests is large, it is desirable that the coroner should be required by the terms of his appointment to be a whole-time officer. To attach a pension to the office of coroner would not materially increase the burden on the rates out of which the coroner is paid. A pension is in the nature of deferred pay, and experience shows that a prudent man will take a pensionable office at a considerably lower salary than he would a non-pensionable office. The Civil Service superannuation rules under the Superannuation Act of 1869 would perhaps furnish a basis for the calculation of pensions in the case of coroners. Under these rules the amount of the pension depends on. the number of years of service, but in calculating the pension there is power where a person enters the service somewhat late in life to add to the period of actual service a certain number of years in respect of professional qualifications. Time for appointing Borough Coroner. 8. Section 171 (3) of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1882 (45 & 46 Vict. c. 50), provides that a vacancy in the office of borough coroner shall be filled up within ten days after it occurs. This is a most inconvenient provision, the time for inquiry being far too short. We incline to the opinion that this provision may be regarded as superseded by section 1 (6) of the Coroners Act, 1892 (55 & 56 Vict. c. 56), which enacts that a council may postpone the appointment of a coroner to fill a vacancy either generally or in a particular case, for a period not exceeding three months from the date at which the vacancy occurs. But as doubts have been expressed to us, we think the point should be made clear by the express repeal of the enactment of 1882. Number of Deputy Coroners. 9. The Coroners Act, 1892, provides for the appointment of a deputy by every county and borough coroner. As has already been stated, there is no provision for the appointment of a deputy by a franchise coroner, and the status of a deputy for A 4 31-2 Q. 3806-16. Q. 8094-102, Q. 10,616. Q. 7614-9. Q. 9178-85. Q. 11,469- fie Q. 3818-22, Q. 187~226.