INQUEST
An inquiry by a CORONER or medical examiner, sometimes with the aid of a jury, into the cause of a violent death or a death occurring under suspicious circumstances. Generally an inquest may result in a finding of natural death, accidental death, suicide, or murder. Criminal prosecution
may follow when culpable conduct has contributed to the death.
The body of jurors called to inquire into the
circumstances of a death that occurred suddenly,
by violence, or while imprisoned. Any body of
jurors called to inquire into certain matters. (A
GRAND JURY is sometimes called a grand inquest,
for example.)
The determination or findings of a body of
persons called to make a legal inquiry or the report
issued after their investigation.
The foundation of the modern jury system
can be traced back to the Carolingian empire of
medieval Europe during the eighth to the tenth
centuries. The monarchs used a procedure
called inquest, or inquisition, to help them con-
solidate their authority in the realm. They called
together the people of the countryside and
required them to recite what they considered to
be the immemorial rights of the king. Once
these rights were ascertained, they were adopted
by the government and considered established.
There was no accusation, verdict, or judgment in
these proceedings, but the inquest fixed the right
of the government to obtain information from
its citizens.
The Norman invaders were not long on Eng-
lish soil when they used the inquest to compile
the Domesday Book, a census compiled between
1085 and 1086 to record the ownership of land
throughout the kingdom.
For this inquiry, citizens were called and
required to give testimony under oath about
their land and PERSONAL PROPERTY.
The inquest was also used in local courts in
England during the Middle Ages. Since a person
could not be tried for a crime until accused, a
panel of four men from each vill and twelve
from each hundred appeared before the court
and charged certain individuals with crimes.
The panel members appeared voluntarily, how-
ever, and were not summoned by a public officer
as is done for an inquest today. Then in 1166 a
law called the Assize of Clarendon made the
inquest procedure mandatory. The panel of men
was required to appear before local sheriffs and
make regular accusations on their oaths. These
cases then were tried in the royal courts because
of the king’s special interest in keeping the
peace. This procedure was the origin of the
modern grand jury.
A further step in consolidating the king’s
powers came with creation of the office of the
coroner, so named for its service to the crown. In
the Middle Ages the coroner was a powerful
local official who kept records of appeals from
lower courts, accusations, hangings, and public
financial matters.He held inquests to investigate
royal rights concerning fish, shipwrecks, treas-
ure trove, and unexplained deaths. The purpose
of such inquests was always to determine the
extent of the king’s financial interests. Anytime
there was a death, the crown took whatever
object had caused the death and all of the per-
sonal property of anyone who committed sui-
cide or was convicted of a felony. From this early
function of fiscal administration, the coroner
today has become primarily responsible for
managing dead bodies, but the inquest is still the
procedure the coroner uses for investigation.
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