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21 Medico-Legal J. 1 (1953)

handle is hein.journals/medlgjr21 and id is 1 raw text is: THE MEDICO-LEGAL JOURNAL Vol. XXI 19E3 Part One EDITORIAL THE publication of the Coroner's Rules, 1953, as promulgated by the Lord Chancellor and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster serves to give statutory effect to what has been the good and established practice of the majority of coroners for a long time. That there have been exceptions to this uniformity of conduct and procedure-albeit a very small minority-has been a source of irritation none the less to the majority of coroners than to those who are concerned with the interests of the public, doctors and lawyers. Coroners as a whole therefore will welcome as much as the rest of the community the fact that their wayward brethren must now conform to rules which bear official sanction. Not the least satisfactory rule is that which renders documentary evidence inadmissible unless the coroner is satisfied that there is good and sufficient reason why the maker of the document should not attend the court. Evidence, for example, of post mortem examination may be the crux of the inquiry and it is right and proper that such evidence should be open to further examination and cross-examination. It is also made clear that the court is concerned only with the identification, mode and place of death of the deceased and that all matters of civil liability are outside its scope and jurisdiction, a fact which has always obtained but which has not deterred counsel and others from engaging in fishing expeditions. There will also be general satisfaction that the Rider-for too long a two-edged weapon in the hands of a possibly well-meaning but incompletely informed jury- no longer has any place in the record, unless directed to the prevention of the recurrence of similar fatalities. On the whole the Chancellors have been well served by the committee which advised them on these rules, which should serve to cement the good relations which already exist between all parties concerned with the important services rendered to the community by these ancient courts.