Coroners' Court Act 1904 (NSW)

Act No. 25, 1904.

An Act to provide that , except in certain cases, inquisi t ions now held before a coroner and a ju ry , shall be held before a coroner s i t t ing a lone ; and for purposes consequent on or incidental to the carrying out of that object. [13th December, 1904.]'

T ) E it enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty, by and with A J the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly of New South Wales in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows :—

1. This Act shall come into force on the fifteenth day of

December, one thousand nine hundred and four, and may be cited as the " Coroners' Court Act, 1904."

2. After the commencement of this Act, all inquisitions hereto­

fore by law required to be held before a coroner and a jury shall, subject to the proviso hereinafter contained, be held before a coroner sitting alone : Provided that an inquisition shall as heretofore be held before a coroner and a jury of six on the request of—

(a) a relative of the deceased ; or

(b) the secretary of any society or organisation of which the deceased was a member at the time of his death ; or

(e) the order of the Minister of Justice.

3. A coroner, when sitting alone, under the powers conferred by this Act, may do and perform all such acts and things in or concerning any inquisition held before him as might, before the commencement of this Act, have been done and performed by him or by the j u r y ; and may declare a verdict or finding as to the matter inquired into. Such verdict or finding shall have the same force and effect as the verdict or finding of a coroner's jury had at the time of the commencement of this Act,

A coroner may, on a finding or verdict by him, make all such orders and direct all such things to be done as he might, before the commencement of this Act, have made or directed to be done on the verdict or finding of a jury : And he shall, subject to the provisions of this Act, perform the same duties and be subject to the same liabilities and obligations as before the commencement of this Act.

4. Depositions taken at an inquisition held before a coroner

sitting alone shall, on the trial of any person, be as admissible in evidence as if such depositions had been taken at an inquisition held

before a coroner and a jury. 5.

5. The practice and procedure in and concerning inquisitions

held before a coroner sitting alone shall, so far as possible, and subject to the provisions of this Act, be according to the present practice and procedure in and concerning inquisitions held before a coroner and a jury-