INTERLUDE FOR AN INQUEST

Chapter 22 of Black Hearts And Blue Devils is concerned with an inquest which takes place at the Pear Tree Inn, in Bell End, Blackheath. It is a double inquest for two itinerant workers, friends ostensibly, who had got themselves into an argument after drinking heavily at the Three Furnaces.

To people familiar with the role and powers of the coroner today, the proceedings in chapter 22 might strike a somewhat odd if not implausible note. I would crave the indulgence of any such person and remind them of the history of the office.

Coroners were introduced by the Normans more or less immediately after the conquest. Under the common law, the coroner historically enjoyed wide ranging powers of inquisition and arrest. It was not really until the seventeen and eighteen hundreds that (relatively) minor regulation and control was introduced by various statutes. However, at the time of “our” inquest, in 1887, coroners still enjoyed considerable powers which enabled them, in effect, to act as magistrates: as a matter of fact there developed considerable friction between groups representing the interests of these two offices as to jurisdictions. Thus, in 1887, a coroner could issue orders to apprehend felons suspected or found guilty at inquests (inquests were held in the case of “sudden, unnatural, or violent death”). They could even arrest or detain people who were present at the death of the subject of the inquest. Further, they could arrest other felons such as burglars or robbers unconnected with any inquest, which rankled with magistrates.

Nowadays coroners are only called upon to reach a verdict falling into a few broad categories, basically – natural causes, accident/misadventure, suicide, unlawful killing, and open. What makes the account of the inquest in Black Hearts so entertaining, is that the coroner, Jacob Madden, is able to delve into the (potentially) “unlawful” deaths concerned and dissect them to arrive at a more precise definition of the act(s) causing death. Especially, he is able to look at splitting any unlawful killing into murder and manslaughter (as a coroner of the time was expected to do). The tricks he employs to bring about the result he may already have instinctively decided upon, and his mental processes, give the chapter its entertainment value, in my humble (not to say biased!) opinion. Please read it and let me know!

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