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 England, 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.
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.
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. They have different roles and responsibilities.
Etymology and history The office of coroner originated in medieval England, first constituted in the reign of Richard I, and has since been adopted in many other countries whose legal systems have their roots in English or United Kingdom law."coroner". Encyclopædia Britannica, 2009. Accessed 10 August 2009.
In September 1194, the king's itinerant justices in Eyre were required to ensure that in each county of England three knights and a clerk were elected to serve as 'keepers of the pleas of the crown' (custodes placitorum coronae, from whence the word "coroner")."Praeterea in quolibet comitatu eligantur tres milites et unus clericus custodes placitorum coronae." Stubbs, William, ed. (Oxford, 1921) Select Charters and Other Illustrations of English Constitutional History: From the Earliest Times to the Reign of Edward the First. 9th ed., revised by H. W. C. Davis, p. 254 The duties with which the office was entrusted, and which were involved in 'keeping' the crown pleas—which included holding inquests upon dead bodies found within his jurisdiction, hearing the confessions and appeals of felons, and receiving abjurations of the realm made by felons who had taken sanctuary—were not new in 1194. Many of them had previously been performed by a range of local officials, such as the county justiciar (an office in place under Kings Henry I and Stephen), or the serjeant or bailiff of the hundred. Hunnisett, R. F. (Cambridge, 1961), The Medieval Coroner, pp. 1-2. For a few decades after the institution of the office of coroner, however, his precise duties were often unclear, and there remained a degree of power-sharing with these officials: the serjeants continued to perform valid inquests on dead bodies and sometimes hear appeals and confessions as late as 1225, despite a plea of the barons to King John in 1215 that 'no sheriff concern himself with pleas of the crown without the coroners'.Hunnisett, R. F. (Cambridge, 1961), The Medieval Coroner, pp. 3-4
"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. 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.
Coroners were introduced into Wales following its military conquest by Edward I of England in 1282 through the Statute of Rhuddlan in 1284.
By region
Australia 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.
Brazil In Brazil, coroner work is done by Médicos-Legistas (Lawful Physicians), that are police officers and forensic experts with degrees in medicine.
In the Department of Federal Police, the Médicos-Legistas work on 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 Médicos-Legistas constitute a police career of their own.
Canada According to Statistics Canada, 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 its 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. 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, 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.
The provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador 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, 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: Grant: Burial orders Cremation orders Waivers of autopsy Autopsy orders Exhumation orders Orders to remove dead bodies outside Hong Kong Order police investigations of death Order inquests Approve removal and use of body parts of the dead body Issue certificates of fact of death
The Coroner makes orders after considering the pathologist's report.
Iran
Ireland The Coroners Service is a network of Coroners working across Ireland, usually covering areas based on Ireland's traditional counties. They are appointed by local authorities as independent experts and must be either qualified doctors or lawyers. 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.
New Zealand The coronial system operates under the Coroners Act 2006, which: Established the office of the chief coroner to provide leadership and coordination Moved to a smaller number of full-time legally-qualified coroners who are Judges of the Coroners Court Ensured families are notified of significant steps in the coronial process Introduced wide-ranging cultural matters to be considered in all aspects of dealing with the dead body Introduced a specific regime for attention and release of body parts and body samples Enhanced inquiry and inquest processes
Sri Lanka 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.
United Kingdom There are separate coroner 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. Deaths in Scotland requiring judicial examination are now reported to The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, who investigates deaths on behalf of the Lord Advocate. Different teams investigating deaths include the Scottish Fatalities Investigation Unit, the National Homicide Team, the Health and Safety Investigation Unit, the Road Traffic Fatalities Investigation Unit and The Custody Deaths Unit.
In the rest of 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.