Coroners act, 1962

• Enactment Date: 11 April 1962
• Act Number: 9

Number 9 of 1962.
CORONERS ACT, 1962.
ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS
PART I
Preliminary and General
Section 1. Short title and commencement. 2. Definitions. 3. Regulations. 4. Expenses. 5. Repeals.
PART II
Coroners and Coroners' Districts
6. Coroners' districts. 7. Amalgamation of districts. 8. Office of coroner. 9. Salary of coroner. 10. Review of salary. 11. Tenure of office of coroner. 12. Place of residence of coroner. 13. Deputy coroners. 14. Restriction on appointment as coroner or deputy coroner. 15. Removal from office of coroner and deputy coroner. 16. First coroners under this Act.
PART III
Inquests
17. General duty to hold inquest. 18. Optional power to hold inquest and duty to notify coroner. 19. Post-mortem examination in lieu of inquest. 20. Provisions where coroner and deputy coroner are prevented from holding inquest. 21. Inquest where several deaths arise from one occurrence. 22. Inquest without exhuming body. 23. Inquest where body destroyed or irrecoverable. 24. Inquest on order of Attorney General. 25. Adjournment of inquest where criminal proceedings are being considered or have been instituted. 26. Summoning of witnesses. 27. View of the body. 28. Note of names, addresses of witnesses. 29. Preservation of certain documents. 30. Prohibition of consideration of civil and criminal liability. 31. Prohibition of censure and exoneration. 32. Record of verdict returned at an inquest. 33. Post-mortem and special examinations. 34. Holding of adjourned inquest by different coroner. 35. Disqualification of certain coroners for holding certain inquests. 36. Service of summons. 37. Non-attendance of jurors and witnesses. 38. Powers with respect to the taking of evidence, etc, at inquest.
PART IV
Juries at Inquests
39. General power to sit with or without jury. 40. Obligation on coroner to sit with jury in certain cases. 41. Number of coroner's jury. 42. Liability to serve on coroner's jury. 43. Summoning of jury. 44. Failure of jury to agree. 45. Holding of adjourned inquest with different jury.
PART V
Miscellaneous
46. Removal and custody of body pending inquest, etc. 47. Exhumation. 48. Removal of body outside the State. 49. Inquest on treasure trove. 50. Furnishing of particulars to registrars of births and deaths. 51. Extension of power of coroner to authorise burial. 52. Provisions governing post-mortem examination caused to be made by coroner. 53. Prohibition on certain coroners from acting in certain proceedings. 54. Supply of forms to coroner. 55. Returns to be made by coroner. 56. Prescribing of forms of oaths, etc, in respect of inquests. 57. Prescribing of certain fees and expenses. 58. Certification and payment of certain sums. 59. Amendment of Juries Act, 1927.
SCHEDULE
Enactments Repealed
Acts Referred to Local Authorities (Officers and Employees) Act, 1926 1926, No. 39 Public Offices (Fees) Act, 1879 1879, c. 58 Local Authorities (Officers and Employees) Act, 1926 1926, No. 39 Deaths Registration Act (Ireland), 1880 1880, c. 13 Juries Act, 1927 1927, No. 23 Health Act, 1947 1947, No. 28
Number 9 of 1962.
CORONERS ACT, 1962.
AN ACT TO AMEND AND CONSOLIDATE THE LAW RELATING TO CORONERS AND TO CORONERS' INQUESTS. [11th April, 1962.]
BE IT ENACTED BY THE OIREACHTAS AS FOLLOWS:—
PART I Preliminary And General
	Short title and commencement.	1.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Coroners Act, 1962.
	(2) This Act shall come into operation on such day as the Minister shall by order appoint for that purpose.
	Definitions.	2.—In this Act—
	“coroner”, except in sections 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 16 and 5.9, includes a person appointed under subsection (2) of section 5 of the Local Authorities (Officers and Employees) Act, 1926 , as applied by section 8 of this Act, to fill the office of coroner temporarily;
	“deputy coroner” has the meaning given to it by section 13 of this Act;
	“local authority” means the council of a county or the corporation of a county borough;
	“the Minister” means the Minister for Justice;
	“prescribed”, save where the context otherwise requires, means prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this Act;
	“registered medical practitioner” means a person who is registered, other than provisionally or temporarily, under the Medical Practitioners Acts, 1927 to 1961, in the Register of Medical Practitioners for Ireland.
	Regulations.	3.—(1) The Minister may make regulations in relation to any matter referred to in this Act as prescribed or to be prescribed.
	(2) Every regulation made by the Minister under this Act shall be laid before each House of the Oireachtas as soon as may be after it is made and, if a resolution annulling the regulation is passed by either such House within the next subsequent twenty-one days on which that House has sat after the regulation is laid before it, the regulation shall be annulled accordingly but without prejudice to anything previously done thereunder.
	Expenses.	4.—The expenses incurred by the Minister in the administration of this Act shall to such extent as may be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.
	Repeals.	5.—The enactments specified in the Schedule to this Act are hereby repealed to the extent mentioned in the third column of the Schedule.
PART II Coroners and Coroners' Districts
	Coroners' districts.	6.—(1) The coroners districts of the State shall, subject to subsection (2) of this section, the provisions of any order under subsection (3) of this section and section 7 of this Act be the same as the coroners' districts immediately before the commencement of this Act.
	(2) The boroughs of Kilkenny, Clonmel, Drogheda and Sligo shall be included, respectively, with the areas which, heretofore, constituted the coroners' districts of County Kilkenny, County Tipperary South Riding, County Louth and North County Sligo to form new coroners' districts.
	(3) The boundary between two adjoining coroners' districts the coroners for which were appointed by the same local authority may be altered by the Minister by order made after consultation with the Minister for Local Government and with the consent of the coroners for such districts.
	(4) Where a vacancy occurs in a coroner's district portion of which is within a county borough, that portion shall thereupon cease to be part of that district and shall be amalgamated with the district comprising the remainder of the county borough, the coroner of which shall become coroner for the district thereby created and comprising the whole of the county borough.
	(5) Section 10 of this Act shall have effect in the case of the creation of a coroner's district under subsection (4) of this section in like manner as if such creation were an amalgamation under a scheme under section 7 of this Act and, for that purpose, the references in subsections (1) and (9) of the said section 10 to the coming into force of a scheme under the said section 7 shall be construed as references to the creation of a district under subsection (4) of this section.
	Amalgamation of districts.	7.—(1) When a coroner ceases to hold office, the local authority by whom he was appointed, in lieu of appointing a successor, may, and if required by the Minister shall, submit to the Minister a scheme for the amalgamation of his district or part of his district with the district or districts of any other coroner or coroners appointed by that local authority.
	(2) A scheme under this section, if approved of by the Minister after consultation with the Minister for Local Government, shall come into force on such day as the Minister determines.
	Office of coroner.	8.—(1) There shall be a coroner for every coroner's district.
	(2) The coroner for a coroner's district shall be appointed by the local authority in whose area the district is situate.
	(3) The office of coroner shall be an office to which the Local Authorities (Officers and Employees) Act, 1926 , applies and that Act shall apply accordingly but with the following modifications:
	(a) “the Minister” in the said Act shall, in relation to the office of coroner, mean the Minister for Justice,
	(b) subsection (1) of section 5, subsections (1) and (2) of section 7 and section 11 of that Act shall not apply to the office of coroner,
	(c) the Minister shall, after consultation with the Local Appointments Commissioners, declare, either generally or for a particular appointment, the qualifications as to age, health and character for appointment to the office of coroner,
	(d) the reference in subsection (3) of section 7 of that Act to qualifications prescribed under that section shall be construed as a reference to qualifications declared under paragraph (c) of this subsection, and
	(e) every person to be recommended for appointment to the office of coroner shall be selected by such means and in such manner as the Local Appointments Commissioners think proper.
	(4) The modifications effected by subsection (3) of this section shall not apply in the case of the appointment of a coroner after the commencement of this Act where the qualifications for the appointment were prescribed before such commencement, and the...