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Inquest vs. Coroner — What's the Difference?

Difference Between Inquest and Coroner

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Definitions

Inquest

An inquest is a judicial inquiry in common law jurisdictions, particularly one held to determine the cause of a person's death. Conducted by a judge, jury, or government official, an inquest may or may not require an autopsy carried out by a coroner or medical examiner.

Coroner

A coroner is a government or judicial official who is empowered to conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death, and to investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within the coroner's jurisdiction. In medieval times, English coroners were Crown officials who held financial powers and conducted some judicial investigations in order to counterbalance the power of sheriffs or bailiffs.

Inquest

An investigation conducted by a coroner, sometimes with the aid of a jury, into the cause of death of a person when the cause may be criminal.

Coroner

A public officer whose primary function is to investigate any death thought to be of other than natural causes.

Inquest

A hearing conducted by a judge or magistrate to determine damages when a defendant has defaulted.

Coroner

A public official who presides over an inquest into unnatural deaths, and who may have (or historically had) additional powers such as investigating cases of treasure trove.
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Inquest

A judicial inquiry into a specified matter, such as a person's mental condition.

Coroner

A medical doctor who performs autopsies and determines time and cause of death from a scientific standpoint.

Inquest

An investigation or inquiry
"In his inquest into the earliest days of Rome he had to confront the question of the relation between history and myth" (Robert Ackerman).

Coroner

(Isle of Man) The administrative head of a sheading.

Inquest

A formal investigation, often held before a jury, especially one into the cause of a death

Coroner

An officer of the peace whose principal duty is to inquire, with the help of a jury, into the cause of any violent, sudden or mysterious death, or death in prison, usually on sight of the body and at the place where the death occurred.
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Inquest

An inquiry, typically into an undesired outcome

Coroner

A public official who investigates by inquest any death not due to natural causes

Inquest

The jury hearing such an inquiry, and the result of the inquiry

Inquest

Enquiry; quest; search

Inquest

Inquiry; quest; search.
The laborious and vexatious inquest that the soul must make after science.

Inquest

Judicial inquiry; official examination, esp. before a jury; as, a coroner's inquest in case of a sudden death.

Inquest

An inquiry into the cause of an unexpected death

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