Early Maryland County Courts.         xli


      not a member of the Council, might be appointed sheriff and coroner of a
      county by the Chief Judge, who was the Governor (Arch. Md. i, 55), and this
      procedure was followed as late as in November 1656 (Arch. Md. iii, 329).
      On January 29, 1637/8 the Governor appointed Thomas Baldridge of St.
      Mary's to be sheriff and coroner during his pleasure, who held an inquest two
      days later (Arch. Md. iii, 6i; iv, 9); and April 30, 1640, commissioned John
      Robinson, High Constable, as coroner for St. Clement's Hundred in St. Mary's,
      and defined his duties as such (Arch. Md. iii, 91). Juries of inquest upon per
      sons dead by violence were until 1666 summoned by the sheriff, the constable,
      or a justice. The reference in Hanson's Old Kent to a “coroner's jury” held
      in January 1652/3 is doubtless inaccurate, Hanson probably prefixing coroner
      to the original entry, as the sheriff probably officiated in both capacities (Arch.
      Md. liv, 7). In the sixties we find not only the sheriff, but constables and
      even justices, functioning as coroners. The court records of Charles County
      show that on September 16, 1661, the chief judge authorized a constable to
      summon a jury to view the body of a drowned man (pp. 140-141) ; and again
      without any special order appearing in the record, on May 4, 1663, a jury of
      inquest was held by Edward Swan, “Constable and Crowner “, over a drowned
      man in this county (pp. 362-363). At a later session held in October, 1663,
      in Charles County there is the record of a jury of inquest over a dead body,
      which seems to have been held by William Marshall, one of the justices, who
      apparently functioned as coroner (pp. 401-402). There is a Provincial Court
      record under date of October 16, 1665, of a jury of inquest impanelled by John
      Lawson, “Sheriffe & coroner” of St. Mary's County, which indicates that the
      sheriff there exercised the duties of both offices (Arch. Md. xlix, 5 io).
        In 1666 the Assembly passed an act directing the Governor from time to
      time to appoint qualified men as coroners in the several counties, directing that
      the oath of the same form as that used in England for coroners be administered.
      (Arch. Md. ii, 130-131). Announcement was made at the September, 1666,
      Somerset County Court of the appointment of William Stevens as coroner by
      the Governor, acting under the law of April, 1666, and the form of oath to
      be taken by him was recorded (Arch. Md. liv, 638). A different individual
      was appointed sheriff, showing that the offices of sheriff and coroner were no
      longer combined. Stevens was reappointed coroner in 1670 (Arch. Md. v. 70).
      The Talbot County tax levy for 1668 contains an item for the payment of
      360 pounds of tobacco “To the Corroner Mr Tho. South “, and the 1670 levy
      shows 1250 pounds of tobacco payable to Tho. Vaughan for coroner's fees
      for five persons (Arch. Md. liv, 428, 481). In 1671 the Assembly passed an
      act fixing the fees of coroners, which were placed at a somewhat higher rate
      than the fees paid in England, the act reciting that the latter rate was too low
      for conditions as found in this Province (Arch. Md. ii, 292-294), and the form
      of oath is recorded in the Council Proceedings (Arch. Md. v, 96-97). The
      duties of coroner as defined by the act of 1671 included the holding of inquests
      over the bodies of those dead by misadventure, murder, suicide, or other forms
      of violence, as well as the serving of writs or subpoenas upon a sheriff in any
      suit to which he was a party, or for the arrest of a sheriff. It should be noted