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coroner ordinarily holds office for life, but may be removed by the Lord Chancellor for misconduct or incompetence. The fact that a coroner for one county was imprisoned in another was held sufficient to justify his removal. A county coroner is paid by salary, the amount of which is fixed by agreement between himself and the justices. It seems that the amount may be revised every five years. Provision is now made by which a county coroner may appoint a deputy to act for him in case of illness or unavoidable absence. The deputy must be either a barrister, solicitor, or medical man. The coroner is ex officio a justice of the peace, and he may therefore cause any person suspected of homicide to be apprehended even before the jury have found their verdict.

It was formerly the duty of the coroner to hold inquisitions concerning wrecks, treasure trove, and deodands, but this part of his jurisdiction has now become obsolete. It has only lately been decided that he has no longer power to inquire into incendiary fires. Having regard to recent conflagrations, it seems a pity that this ancient jurisdiction is not revived in some form or another. The main function of the coroner is to hold an inquest, with a jury, over the body of any person who has been killed, or who has died in prison, or who has died suddenly, if the cause of death be unknown. The inquisition must be held super visum corporis, that is to say, the body must be viewed both by the coroner and by the jury. The jury, which must consist of at least twelve persons, are sworn by the coroner, and are then charged to inquire how the deceased came by his death. Witnesses are examined on oath, and the coroner has power to order a post mortem examination of the body,

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and the attendance of medical witnesses. The finding of the jury is recorded on parchment, and is attested by the signatures and seals of the jury, as well as of the coroner. If on such finding or inquisition any person is found guilty of murder or manslaughter, the coroner commits him for trial, and the accused may be indicted on the inquisition without any presentment by the grand jury. As a fact, however, an independent inquiry is always held before the justices in the ordinary way, and the depositions are sent up and dealt with as if no inquest had been held. This double inquiry is of course the cause of a great deal of unnecessary expense and trouble.

The office of Justice of the Peace dates from the statute 34 Ed. III. c. 1. There is no limit to the number of justices which may be appointed in any county. A justice is appointed for the whole county; but, except in quarter sessions, he only acts in practice in the petty sessional division in which he resides. His judicial functions, though defined and limited by statute, depend ultimately on the terms of his commission. The commission now is substantially the same in form as the commission which was settled by the judges in the time of Queen Elizabeth. The administrative functions of the justices have been conferred on them by a series of statutes, and with these functions alone the present volume is concerned.1 Justices are appointed by the Crown on the recommendation of the lord-lieutenant. They hold office for life, but may be removed for misconduct by the Lord Chancellor. The qualification is the enjoyment of an estate in possession of £100 a year, or a reversion in one of not less than £300 a year, or assessment to the Inhabited House Duty at not less than £100 a year. In the case of county court judges the property qualification is dispensed with. The justices are unpaid, and they elect their own chairman.

1 As to their judicial functions, see Justice and Police, by F. Pollock.

The most important duty of the justices is the maintenance of the county police. Subject to confirmation by the Home Secretary, the Quarter Sessions fix the number of men and officers for the county. They appoint the chief constable, in whom are vested all the powers of the old high constables of the hundreds. The chief constable appoints the superintendents, sergeants, and men. The Treasury pays one half the cost of the pay and clothing of the police force. The cost of the county police in 1880 was about £1,000,000. The expenses are defrayed out of a special police rate, which is for the most part assessed and levied like the county rate. Provision is made for contributing boroughs and liberties, also for special districts requiring extra police. As we have already seen, the justices in quarter sessions are entrusted with the duty of forming highway districts. Under the Act of 1878 special powers are given to them to coerce defaulting highway boards who have neglected to maintain their roads in proper repair. They also hear and decide appeals from union assessment-committees. The maintenance of county bridges and shire halls specially constitutes another of their duties. Prisons have been removed from the control of the local authorities, but they are still subject to inspection by committees of visiting justices. The maintenance and management of pauper lunatic asylums is also a matter for the justices. The acting lunacy authority is

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"committee of visitors" appointed annually by the quarter sessions out of their own number. A committee of the justices is also the local authority for the enforcement of the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Acts. The Privy Council exercises a general control over the working of the Acts. The quarter sessions also appoint the county analyst under the Sale of Food and Drugs Acts, and paid Inspectors of weights and measures under an Act of 1835. In Petty Sessions the justices appoint the overseers, and exercise their licensing jurisdiction. The laws relating to the sale of intoxicating liquors are exceedingly complicated, and the subject from every point of view is a thorny one. Music and dancing licences and theatres are also under the control of the justices.

The general expenses of the county are defrayed out of the county rate. "The county rate," says Mr. R. S. Wright, "is an assessment not on individual properties, but on the several parishes in the county. A committee of quarter sessions ascertains the total of the net rateable value of each parish, and apportions the whole required amount accordingly. Precepts for the amount required from a parish are sent to the guardians of the union in which the parish is included. The guardians pay the amount to the county treasurer, and recover it by order from the overseers of the parish. The overseers raise it in the parish by poor rates."1 The told amount of county expenditure in 1880 was rather more than £2,750,000-that is to say, about 5 per cent of the total local outlay. The Treasury subventions came to rather more than £500,000, so that rather more than £2,000,000 had to be raised out of county rates.

1 Memo of 1877, p. 19.

CHAPTER VII.

THE SANITARY DISTRICTS.

Sanitary Districts-Necessity and Province of Sanitary Legislation -History of Sanitary Legislation- Urban Sanitary Authorities -Local Boards-Rural Sanitary Districts and AuthoritiesPort Sanitary Authorities.

For sanitary purposes, using the term in its widest sense, the whole of England, with the exception of the Metropolis, is divided into Sanitary Districts. A sanitary district is either rural or urban. The boundaries of the poor-law unions are the boundaries of the rural sanitary districts, and the guardians are the rural sanitary authority. The urban sanitary districts are carved out of the rural districts according to the exigencies of population. The urban sanitary authority may be either the town council of a municipal borough, the improvement commissioners of an Improvement Act district, or a local board. Take Kingston Union as an example: it contains one municipal borough, one Improvement Act district, and six local board districts, dotted about in various parts of its area. Every part of the union that is not included in one of the urban districts is under the sanitary jurisdiction of the guardians. Thus every house is under either an urban or a rural sanitary

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