Coroner
A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States · John Bouvier · 1839
A Law Dictionary, Adapted to the Constitution and Laws of the United States
an officer whose principal duty it 1s to hold an inquisition, with the assistance of a jury, over the body of any person who may have come to a violent death, or who has died in prison. It is his duty also in case of the death of the sheriff, or when a vacancy happens in that office, to serve all the writs and process which the sheriff is usually bound to serve.
Vide 1 Bac. Ab. 478; 6 Vin. Ab. 242; 3Com.
Dig. 222; 5 Com. Dig. 212; and the article Death.