Coroner's Inquest

My teenage daughter has recently discovered the old American series Quincy ME on television. This set me thinking about the term coroner (these also exist in the USA but their work is less exciting than the Medical Examiner's!).

The word derives from the Latin corona, meaning 'crown', and dates back to the 12th century when Richard the Lionheart was in prison. His sheriffs (administrators who were collecting cash to pay off the European kings holding him hostage) were stealing from him so he needed new officials to clear up the corruption.

They were called coroners because they represented the crown. Their primary role was to make sure that what was owed to the king was paid to the king. Much of the tax base was collected by travelling courts of justice imposing fines for breaking laws.

The reason that modern coroners have a preoccupation with the dead is that, in medieval England, death was a major source of income for the government. Not following the specific procedure required on recording a death could lead to a hefty fine. If somehow the whole village wasn't seen by the court to have acted in the 'correct' manner, the whole village could be fined.