"Coroners Records" by Michael Johnson

 

Michael Johnson, who is the Coroner for West Dorset, briefly described the origins of his office, and gave some idea of the variety of tasks which he encountered daily. The post can be traced back to the reign of K.Richard the First, who spent most of his life out of England fighting in the Crusades. In 1194, the Archbishop of Canterbury in the King's absence, appointed local Coroners whose main duties were to investigate mysterious cases of death or homicide. If a criminal sought asylum in consecrated property, he was protected from revenge or punishment so long as he remained there, but if he confessed his crime and 'abjured the Realm', it was the job of the Coroner to safely escort him to a port, so that he could go into exile. Deciding on ownership of gold and silver, or 'treasure trove' as it was called was another of his responsibilities.  Shipwrecks also came under his jurisdiction, as did stranded whales & royal sturgeon!

Michael explained that fortunately his authority no longer extended to many of these fields, and he was mostly concerned with cases of sudden or inexplicable deaths. Until 1980, they were expected to view a body before the inquest, which could be rather disturbing, but this is no longer required, and indeed with around 1200 cases each year, not practical. He felt that with the number of inquests increasing, some proceedings of a Coroners court could now be streamlined.