A Coroner's Jury is a body convened to assist a coroner in an inquest, that is, in determining the identity of a deceased person and the cause of death. A coroner is an official responsible for investigating deaths particularly some of those happening under unusual circumstances and determining the cause of death The laws on its role and function vary by jurisdiction.
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United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, all inquests were once conducted with a jury. They acted somewhat like a grand jury, determining whether a person should be committed to trial in connection to a death. In the Common law, a grand jury is a type of Jury which determines whether there is enough evidence for a trial. Such a jury was made up of up to twenty-three men, and required the votes of twelve to render a decision. Similar to a grand jury, a Coroner's Jury merely accused, it did not convict. A convict is "a person found guilty of a Crime and sentenced by a court" or "a person serving a sentence in prison" sometimes referred to in Slang
Since 1927, Coroner's Juries have rarely been used in England. Under the Coroners Act, 1988,[1] a Jury is only required to be convened in cases where the death occurred in prison, police custody, or in circumstances which may affect public health or safety. The coroner can actually choose to convene a jury in any investigation, but in practice this is rare. The qualifications to sit on a Coroner's Jury are the same as those to sit on a jury in Crown Court, the High Court, and the county courts. For the TV programme see Crown Court (TV series. The Crown Court of England and Wales is together with the High Court of Justice For the Cameroonian court by this name see High Court of Justice (Cameroon, for the Israeli court of this name see Supreme Court of Israel. England and Wales The County Court is the Workhorse of the civil justice system in England and Wales. [2]
Additionally, a Coroner's Jury only determines cause of death, its ruling does not commit a person to trial. While grand juries, which did have the power to indict, were abolished in the United Kingdom by 1948 (after being effectively stopped in 1933), Coroner's Juries retained those powers until the Criminal Law Act 1977. The Criminal Law Act 1977 (c45 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom. This change came about after Lord Lucan was charged in 1975 by a Coroner's Jury in the death of Sandra Rivett, his children's nanny. Richard John Bingham 7th Earl of Lucan (born 18 December 1934 known as Lord Bingham from 1949 to 1964 and colloquially known as "Lucky" Lucan, was Sandra Eleanor Rivett ( 16 September 1945 - 7 November 1974) was a nanny who was murdered in 1974 allegedly by Lord Lucan. [2]
There are four Rulings that can be made by a British Coroner's Court. These are:
- Misadventure
- Suspicious
- Natural
- Accidental
United States
A coroner's jury deemed Wyatt Earp, Doc Holiday, and their posse guilty in the death of Frank Stilwell in March of 1882 (See [1]). Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp ( March 19, 1848 &ndash January 13, 1929) was an American farmer Teamster, sometime buffalo John Henry "Doc" Holliday ( August 14, 1852 &ndash November 8, 1887) was an American dentist Frank C Stilwell, sometimes misspelled as Stillwell (1856 -March 20th 1882 was a noted Outlaw
Notes
External links
- Scan of a standard pamphlet sent those called to serve on a Corner's Jury in Northern Ireland
- Jarvis on Coroners
- Writeup explaining concepts and example cases of a Coroner's Jury
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