Fees. the plaintiff. (1) And if he shall discharge or conceal any fine or forfeiture, unless by rule of court, he is liable to forfeit treble value, half to the king, and half to him that shall sue, to lose his office, and be incapacitated ever to hold any office connected with the revenue. (m) And neither he nor his deputy may act as solicitor, attorney, or agent, or sue out any process at any General or Quarter Sessions where he shall execute the office of Clerk of the Peace or deputy, on pain of 50l., to him that shall sue within three months, to be recovered with treble costs. (n) By 57 Geo. 3. c. 91. the fees of the Clerk of the Peace are to be ascertained, and a table expressing them arranged by the Court of General Quarter Sessions, to be submitted to the approval of the next Court of General Quarter Sessions, and finally, having received their sanction, to the judges of assize, at the following circuit, by whom it is to be ratified, with any alterations which they may deem just. The table of fees when once confirmed in this manner may be altered by the justices in session, subject in like manner to the approval of a subsequent court of Quarter Session, and afterwards to the correction of the judges; (0) such table is to be deposited with the Clerk of the Peace, and an exact written or printed copy, placed and kept in a conspicuous part of the room where the Quarter Session is held; on pain of forfeiture by the Clerk of the Peace of 5l. to any person who shall sue for the same within three months; (p) and if he receive any greater fee or allowance than authorised by such table, he is subjected to a similar penalty. (q) There is no doubt also that, if he wilfully take more than his due, under colour of his office, he will be liable to be indicted for extortion at common law, or to be removed from his office on articles exibited against him in the Court of Quarter Ssssions. (r) It is said that he is not bound "to enter judgment or the like, at the suit of any" without receiving his legal fee for the same; but he is compellable to enter, without previous fee, whatever the court shall order, without the suit of another; (s) and it may now be taken that he is bound to enter whatever they, on reference to them, shall absolutely command. The sessions (1) 4 and 5 W. 3. c. 24. s. 5. (7) Ante, p. 52. (m) 22 and 23 Car. 2. c. 22. s. 9. (0) s. 1. (q) s. 2. (5) Cromp. 159. cannot compel payment of his fees by summary process, or detain parties till they shall be paid; but he must seek his remedy by action.(t) 5. OF THE CORONER. The Coroner is stated in the elder authorities to be an officer attendant on the Court of Quarter Sessions. (u) In practice, however, he does not attend in his official character, nor has he, in modern times, any duties to perform which necessarily require his attendance. He is, however, still obliged to resort to this court to obtain an order for the payment of his fees, under 25 Geo. 2. c. 29., which, in addition to the fee of 13s. 4d. given him by 3 Hen. 7. c. 1. out of the goods of the slayer or murderer, or by way of amerciament on the township on escape, in case where the inquisition has been holden on a person slain or murdered, enacts, "that for every inquisition not taken upon the view of a body lying in a prison, and which shall be taken in any place contributing to the county rates, the sum of 20s. shall be paid to the Coroner; and for every mile which he shall be compelled to travel from his usual place of abode to take such inquisition, the sum of 9d. (v); which sum shall be paid by order on the treasurer, by the justices in sessions, out of the county rates, for which order no fee shall be paid; and for every such inquisition taken on a body dying in prison, he shall be paid so much as the justices in sessions shall allow, not exceeding 20s. to be paid in like manner. But it is provided by the same act that no Coroner of the king's household, or the verge of the King's palaces, nor any Coroner of the Admiralty, nor any Coroner of the county palatine of Durham, nor any Coroner of the city of London and borough of Southwark, or of any franchises belonging to the said city; nor any Coroner of any city, borough, town, liberty, or franchise not contributory to the rates directed by the 12 Geo. 2. c. 29. or within which such rates have not been usually assessed, shall be entitled to any fee given by this act: but it shall be lawful for all such Coroners as are last mentioned to receive all such fees and salaries as they (t) See Pollard v. Gerard, 1 Ld. Raym. 703. (u) Dalt. c. 185. (v) These words do not authorise any allowance for the miles a Coroner has to return, after taking an inquisition, to his place of abode. The King v. the Justices of Oxfordshire, 2 B. and A. 203. were intitled to by law before this act, or as shall be given them by the person by whom they are appointed." (w) Under this statute, no Coroner is entitled to any fees, unless the liberty or franchise within which his inquisition was taken contribute to the county rates; and, therefore, where a writ of mandamus had been obtained, requiring the justices of the West Riding of Yorkshire to make an order for payment of the fees of a Coroner in respect of inquisitions taken within the Honour of Pontefract, the court quashed the writ, because it did not allege that franchise to be contributing to the county rates. (r) On application for fees under this statute, the Court of Quarter Sessions have a discretionary power to consider whether the inquest was necessarily and duly taken; and if they find it was either needlessly holden or illegally conducted, they may properly refuse an order for fees. Thus if the Court of Quarter Sessions shall be of opinion that although the party on whom the inquest was held died a sudden death, there was no ground for supposing that he died other than a natural death, they ought to refuse the order. (y) So if the Coroner take inquisition on bodies cast up by the sea, which it is the usage to bury; or inquisition manifestly informal, as, if signed only (w) Coroners are of three kinds; 1st, by virtue of an office; 2d, by charter or commission; 3d, by election. The lord chief justice of the King's Bench is, by virtue of his office, principal Coroner in the kingdom, and may, if he pleases, excercise the jurisdiction of Coroner in any part of the realm. 2. The lord mayor of London is, by the charter of 18 Ed. 4. Coroner of London. The bishop of Ely also hath power to appoint Coroners by the charter of Hen. 7; and there are Coroners of particular lords of franchises and liberties, who by charter have power to create their own Coroners, or to be Coroners themselves, especially the jurisdiction of the Admiralty and the verge. 3. The general Coroners of counties elected by virtue of statute Westm. 1. c. 18. and 28 Ed. 3. c. 6. 1 Hale, 52; 4 Rep. 57; 1 Black. Com. 346. (x) The King v. the Justices of the West Riding of Yorkshire, 7 T. R. 52. (y) The King v. the Justices of Kent, 11 East, R. 229. In this case, where the deceased having complained of pain, set down in a chair and suddenly died, the court inculpated the Coroner from the imputation of any intentional improper practice, as the taking of the inquisition seemed to have been suggested to him by others. But Lord Ellenborough, C. J., observed, that there were many instances of Coroners having exercised their office in the most vexatious and oppressive manner, by obtruding themselves into private families to their great annoyance and discomfort, without any pretence of the deceased having died otherwise than a natural death,. which was highly illegal. by the Coroner and foreman, the justices may fitly withhold the fees. (2) On application of this kind the Court of Quarter Sessions are to judge whether the inquisitions have been duly taken; and if there be no reason for imputing to them that they have exercised their judgment with any improper bias, the Court of King's Bench will not disturb it. (a) The Coroner, if he take more than his fees, is liable, like other public officers, to be indicted for extortion, and is also liable to be indicted for gross neglect or corruption in the discharge of his duties; but these liabilities will be more properly considered in their place as misdemeanors. (b) Nol. Rep. 144. (a) The King v. the Justices of Kent, 11 East. 230. (b) In the former editions of this work some further points respecting the office of Coroner were introduced; but as they do not seem applicable to the administration of justice in the Court of Quarter Sessions, it has been thought adviseable to omit them in this place. It is right, however, to repeat a remark justly made by Mr. Dickenson against the practice, which has been introduced of late years, of Coroners acting by deputy. "The office," he observes, "is a judicial one, and it may be doubted whether its duties can be assigned to a deputy (properly so called) of any description. Nor does such a delegation of authority appear to be more justifiable on the ground of convenience than of law; for if the Coroner of any particular county, or district of a county, is prevented by sickness, or any other unavoidable necessity, from attending when called upon, any neighbouring Coroner may legally supply his place; for although elected into office by the freeholders of a particular division of the kingdom, when invited into office he is a Coroner throughout England,' and may attend wherever his services are required, though this must be understood of Coroners of counties, or divisions of counties only; for those of 'exempt jurisdictions' cannot interfere within the counties out of their range." There can be little doubt, from general principle, which forbids the delegation of judicial functions, and from the elder authorities [See Wood's Inst. B. 4. c. 1.], that an inquisition taken before a person not a Coroner, but merely acting as deputy, would be holden entirely null and void, so that no proceeding could be had upon it. The evil therefore of deputing even an efficient person to take an inquisition, may be most seriously felt in the administration of public justice. It may also be right to notice here the very defective manner in which the technical parts of a Coroner's duty are usually performed. So little skill and care are bestowed in framing inquisitions containing charges of murder, that it is exceedingly rare to find one sufficiently formal to warrant a trial upon it after a bill has been thrown out by the grand jury. Complaints are made at almost every assize by the judges of the gross insufficiency of the inquisitions; and, as the Court of Quarter Sessions have a right to see that such inquisitions $ 6. OF GAOLERS. It is the duty of all Gaolers to attend on the Court of Quarter Sessions. Under this denomination are comprehended all persons who have the custody or superintendence of the prisons to which the jurisdiction and cognizance of the sheriff or of the justices of the county extend; by whatever name they may be usually called. Besides the obvious duties of the Gaoler, in bringing the prisoners in custody who are to take their trials; in bringing vagrants who are to be further committed or discharged; and in taking charge of such other prisoners as may be committed to his care by the court; he has important duties to discharge, which have been distinctly ascertained by the recent statute for consolidating the laws relating to prisons. (c) By that act the keeper of every gaol or house of correction is required "to keep a journal, in which he shall record all punishments inflicted by his authority or that of the visiting justices, and the day when such punishments shall have taken place, and all other occurrences of importance within the prison, in such manner as shall be directed by the regulations to be made under that act (that is, by the regulations made or confirmed at every Michaelmas Quarter Sessions); which journal shall be laid before the justices at every General or Quarter Sessions, to be signed by the chairman, in proof of the same having been there produced." (d) By the same statute he is further required to make a report, in writing, of the actual state and condition of the prisons under his charge, and of the number and description of prisoners confined therein, to the justices at every Ĝeneral or Quarter Sessions; and to attend at such sessions, and give answers upon oath to all such inquiries as shall be made by the justices at such Sessions, with respect to the state and condition of the gaol and of the prisoners, and any other matters relating to the prison respecting which they may deem it necessary to inquire, for the purpose of carrying that statute into effect, and of ascertaining how far the classification required by the act can be reduced to practice. (e) are duly taken before they allow fees for taking them, it might, perhaps, be well, if that court would look at the inquisitions previous to making an order, and refuse the fees when the inquisitions shall be found glaringly inadequate to the purposes for which they are taken. (c) 4 Geo. 4. c. 64. (d) 4 Geo. 4. c. 64. s. 10. (e) Geo. 4. c. 64. s. 14. |