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The inquest verdict and inquisition
The inquest into death has a very limited role, as provided by the Coroners Act 1988, s 11, and the Coroners Rules 1984, rule 36. If the evidence is sufficient, it has to answer four questions, and also to provide the particulars needed to register a death. This is the role of the jury (if there is one in the particular case), or of the coroner (if there is not). The procedure is discussed in an article by Christopher Dorries written particularly for medical witnesses.
The four questions are (1) who the deceased was, and (2) how, (3) when, and (4) where the deceased came by his or her death. The registration particulars are the date and place of death, the name and surname, the sex and (if it is the case of a woman who has married) the maiden surname, the date and place of birth, and the occupation and usual address of the deceased.
Rule 36(2) of the Coroners Rules 1984 provides that "Neither the coroner nor the jury shall express any opinion on any other matter". In particular, rule 42 of the Rules requires that the inquest verdict must not be framed in such a way as to appear to determine any question of criminal liability on the part of a named person, or any question of civil liability generally. The former part of the phrase allows a conclusion of unlawful killing to be reached, whilst prohibiting the identification of the person concerned.
In R (Metropolitan Police Commissioner) v South London Coroner, unreported, 30 June 2003, a case of judicial review following an inquest into a death by hanging in a police cell, Davis J held that the coroner had been right to reject leaving to the jury a conclusion that the deceased died as a result of the violation of his right to life, contrary to Article 2 of the ECHR. He considered it surprising that a coroner's jury could ever be invited to consider so arcane and quasi-legal a verdict.
The answers to the four questions set out above, together with the registration particulars, constitute the 'verdict' of the inquest. They are all set out on the written record of the inquest, which is called the 'inquisition', and is signed by the coroner and the jury (if there is one). But there is no full narrative report, in the way that is usually produced by a Scottish fatal accident inquiry, or by some coroners in other countries. The inquisition is retained as part of the coroner's records of the case.
It should be noted that the short-form summary of the category of death (eg 'accident', 'suicide', 'natural causes', 'unlawful killing' etc) which is often referred to by the media (wrongly) as the 'verdict' of the inquest is in fact simply the 'conclusion as to the death', originally inserted on the inquisition form for statistical purposes. Although the statistical purpose is better served now by the entirely separate certificate after inquest which the coroner (alone) is obliged to fill out and send to the registrar of deaths, the conclusion as to death remains in the current form of inquisition set out in Schedule 4 to the Coroners Rules 1984.
On this subject see further Jervis on Coroners, Chap 13.
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Last modified: Monday, 09-Aug-2004 08:53:22 BST by: Malcolm Bishop