An Inquest on Inquests
| Date | 01 July 1941 |
| Published date | 01 July 1941 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X4101400310 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
An
Inquest on Inquests
By A CORONER'S
OFFICER
ARE coroners a present-day necessity? Many years'
experience as a coroner's officer gives me the temerity to
suggest that this office could safely pass into honourable
oblivion without involving aay injustice or hardship to the
community at large. Such a sweeping assertion must of
necessity call for some logical effort to justify it and to offer
alternatives in dealing with the matters which for so long have
been the subject of coroners' enquiries. Recent reforms have
considerably lessened the great importance which formerly
applied to inquests in cases of homicide.
The
coroner is no
longer required to proceed with an inquest where an arrest
has been made by the Police in such cases, and no longer can
they be used as a means to discover a culprit by evidence
which was not always in accordance with the rules of evidence.
Where no arrest is made it is unlikely that an inquest will
solve the problem where the efforts of expert crime investi-
gators have failed.
In
road accidents an inquest usually results in the record-
ing of a verdict of 'accidental
death'
without any useful
purpose having been served, except that, here again, efforts
are frequently made to establish civil claims for damages in
further action, often without proper regard for procedure.
All road accidents are, by statute, the subject of police investi-
gation, and they invariably decide whether any criminal action
is justified and take proceedings where necessary. What
purpose then does an inquest achieve in these cases?
The
civil claims can still follow
the
usual course without help or
prejudice resulting from a preliminary enquiry. Many other
forms of accident in mines, factories, quarries and on the
railways are investigated by competent Government officials
289
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