A coroner having issued a death certificate following a post mortem, but without an inquest, had power, upon later receiving powerful new evidence, himself to re-open the case, and to order an inquest, and he did not first have to seek authority from the High Court. The issuing of the certificate did not make him functus officio. The need for certainty meant that such power should only be used when the evidence was powerful, and until then the certificate created a rebuttable presumption. In this case the coroner had asked himself the proper questions, and answered the reasonably, and his decision not to hold an inquest could not be challenged..
Times 12-Jan-2001
Coroners Act 1988
England and Wales
Cited by:
Appeal from – Terry v Coroner for East Sussex CA 12-Jul-2001
The issue of a certificate to the Registrar of Deaths by a coroner, after a post mortem, but on the basis that an inquest was then thought unnecessary, did not make him functus officio. The procedure under the section did not replace the scheme for . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Coroners
Updated: 21 January 2022; Ref: scu.89769