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92 4 E. 1, STAT. 2, CORONERS.
'71* Persons drowned, or suddenly dead. Bro. Coron. 175. Fitz. Coron. 241, 265, 436, 446. Appeal of Wounds or Maim. Past. 45. 3 H. 7, c. 1. 12 Ann. Stat. 2, c. 18. This Statute is more or less an abridgment of the law laid down by Bracton, lib. 3, c. 5, to. 121, R. v. Herford, 29 L. J. Q. B. 249. Coroners are ancient officers of the common law, so called because they dealt principally with pleas of the crown, and they were formerly the prin- cipal conservators of the peace within their counties. And now, if any one makes an affray in their presence, they may bind him over to the peace, but they have no authority to grant process for the peace, 2 Hawk. P. C. 44. In this respect they were always considered judicial officers, and therefore trespass was held not maintainable against a coroner for turning a person out of a room where he was about to take an inquisition, Garnett v. Fer- rand, 6 B. & C. 611. And in Thomas v. Chirton, 2 Best & S. 475, it was de- termined that no action lay against a coroner for anything said by him, while acting as coroner and addressing a jury before him, though he uses defamatory language falsely and maliciously,—at any rate unless the de- claration avers that the words were spoken without reasonable and proba- ble cause. This was on the ground that the coroner's court was a court of record of very high authority. But Cockburn, C. J. observed that he was reluctant to decide, and would not do it till the case came before him, that if a judge abuses his office by using slanderous words maliciously and without probable cause, he is not liable to an action; see Randall v. Brigham, 7 Wal- lace S. C. 523. It should seem, too, that as such they cannot execute their office by deputy. But an exception is made to this by the Act of 1868, ch. 457,' whereby the coroner of Baltimore City may, in case of absence or ill- ness, deputize some competent person to attend to his duties. Our Acts of Assembly in relation to coroners principally (with exceptions that will be ' This statute has been repealed and re-enacted from time to time, and now appears in Balto. City Code, secs. 294-299. The coroners for Baltimore now number eight, one being assigned to each of the police districts, and one "at large," the law providing for the appointment by the Governor of an additional coroner for each additional police district that may be cre- ated by the Board of Police Commissioners. The salary is $1, 000.00. No provision is made for deputy coroners. |
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Alexander's British statutes in force in Maryland. 2d ed., 1912
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