Coroner (Lat. coronator, corona, 'a crown'), a very ancient officer, in England, at the common law. The coronator is mentioned in a charter of King Athelstan, 905 A.D.; and the office is said to be of Saxon origin. But Bishop Stubbs (Constitutional History, vol. i. chap. 17) finds the origin of the office of the modern coroner in an ordinance of 1194 A.D. for the election in every shire of officers to keep the pleas of the crown, whence the name. In this light, the Lord Chief-justice of the Queen's Bench is the principal coroner in the kingdom, and may exercise jurisdiction in that capacity in any part of England. There are, however, particular coroners in every county in England, and in some counties three or four, or even more. Every borough having a separate court of Quarter Sessions has a coroner; but since 1888 boroughs have ceased to have a separate coroner unless the population amounts to 10,000. Coroners were formerly paid by fees on each inquest, but now by salary out of the county rate. The coroner is chosen for life, and the election, which formerly lay with the free-holders, rests, under the Local Government Act of 1888, with the county-council, or with the town-council of a borough having the right to appoint one. A coroner may, however, be dismissed by the Lord Chancellor for inability or misbehaviour in his office. By the statute of Westminster the first (3 Edw. I. chap. 10), it was enacted that none should be chosen but lawful and discreet knights; and in the time of Edward III. there is an instance of a man being removed from the office because he was merely a merchant. Subsequently it was thought sufficient if a man had lands enough to entitle him to be made a knight; and Blackstone complains that in his time it had come to be sought for the perquisites, and not for the honour of serving the country. This motive has now ceased. The coroner is now usually a professional man, frequently a solicitor or a medical man.
The office of coroner is to some extent the only one in England charged with the investigation of crime. When the coroner cannot act, there is no authority to examine witnesses until a suspected person has been actually charged or accused before a magistrate. But even the coroner's duties are very limited. They are defined by 50 and 51 Vict. chap. 71, which consolidates most of the previous statutes. The coroner can inquire only into the causes of violent or sudden death, and into these only when the body has been found. When such a death happens, it is the duty of the constable to give notice of it to the coroner, who then summons a jury from the body of the county for the purpose of making an inquisition into the matter. The coroner presides over the inquisition, and the court thus constituted is a court of record. The jury consists of twelve men at least, who are sworn and charged by the coroner; and the verdict must be found by twelve. The inquest is to be held before the coroner in whose district the body shall be 'lying dead.' If any be found guilty by such inquisition of murder or other homicide, the coroner is to commit them to prison or take bail for their appearance at the assizes, according to the gravity of the offence, and he must certify the inquisition under his own seal and the seals of the jurors, together with the evidence thereon, to the court in which the trial is to take place. The accused may thereupon be put on his trial without other indictment. The coroner is empowered to summon medical witnesses, who are liable to a penalty for non-attendance. He has power to pay a medical witness one guinea for a simple examination, and two guineas if a post-mortem examination of the body has been made. Coroners are empowered to appoint deputies in case of absence from illness or other reasonable cause. Another branch of the coroner's office was to inquire concerning shipwrecks and treasure-trove; but this has been nearly superseded by the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854. He is a conservator of the king's peace, in which capacity he is mentioned in the oldest treatises on the common law. As such, he may cause suspected felons to be apprehended, whether an inquisition has found them guilty or not. The coroner has likewise ministerial functions as the sheriff's substitute, in making out the panel of jurors, and in executing process in suits in which the sheriff is related either to the plaintiff or defendant. Latterly, the office of coroner has been the subject of consideration with a view to certain reforms of administration.
Coroners or crowners, as they were also called in England, are mentioned in many old Scottish statutes; and there is no doubt that the office, as well as that of alderman and mayor, existed in those parts of the country that were peopled by persons of Teutonic race. But it was abolished or fell into desuetude, probably in consequence of the succession war and the French connection ; and in Scotland the duties are now chiefly performed by an officer appointed by the crown, styled the Procurator-fiscal (q.v.). In Ireland the office of coroner is regulated by 9 and 10 Vict. chap. 37. See Jervis, Office and Duties of Coroner (new ed. 1880).
In the United States the coroner is generally elected for a specified term by the voters of each county. He is authorised to employ deputies, assistants or clerks, as well as a legal adviser, and a physician to examine the cases which come before him. His powers and duties relating to the inquiry into cases of sudden or violent death are substantially the same as those of an English coroner. But he is confined to this function. Nor does the inquisition found before the coroner dispense with the necessity of an indictment found by the grand jury, as in England. In cases where the sheriff is absent or disabled, the coroner may sometimes act as an executive officer in his stead. He must in each term make a report under his official seal to the Court of Common Pleas of the state.