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Coroner Definition:
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A public official who holds an inquiry into violent or suspicious deaths.
As Ballentyne's Law Dictionary notes, the office of coroner exists to:
"... conduct an inquiry, sometimes with the aid of a jury, into the cause of death of persons who appear to have come to an end from other than natural causes."
The office of coroner, although historically important in the common law, is now essentially a creature of statute, with the office being contained to specific duties generally set out in a "Coroners Act" or some such similarly named statute (see, for example, the relevant statute of the Canadian jurisdiction of Ontario as set out in the references below)
In most cases, a coroner has the power to summon people to the inquest but is not a criminal court of record.
REFERENCES:
- Anderson, W., Ballentyne's Law Dictionary, 3rd Ed. (Rochester: The Lawyers Co-operative Publishing Company, 1969), page 273
- Coroners Act, R.S.O. 1990, c. C.37
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