#THE CORONERS ACT, 1871 
______ 

##ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS 
______ 

###CHAPTER I 

###PRELIMINARY 

SECTIONS 

1. Short title. 
2. [Repealed.] 

###CHAPTER II 

###APPOINTMENT OF CORONERS 

3. Coroners of Calcutta and Bombay. 
4. Their appointment, suspension and removal. 
5. Coroners to be public servants. 
6. Power to hold other offices. 
7. [Repealed.] 

###CHAPTER III 

###DUTIES AND POWERS OF CORONERS 

8. Jurisdiction to inquire into deaths. 
9. Coroner to be sent for when prisoner dies. 
10. Power to hold inquests on bodies within local cause of death occurred. 
11. Power to order body to be disinterred. 
12. Summoning jury. 
      Inquest may be on Sunday. 
13. Opening Court. 
14. Jurors to be sworn. 
15. View of body. 
16. Proclamation for witnesses. 
17. Summoning witnesses. 
18. Post-mortem examinations. 
      Fees to medical witnesses. 
18A. Report of Chemical Examiner. 
19. Evidence to be on oath. 
      Evidence on behalf of accused. 
      Interpreter. 
      Questions suggested by jury. 
20. Coroner to take down evidence in writing. 
      Witnesses to sign depositions. 
      Coroner to subscribe depositions. 
      Coroner a Magistrate. 
21. Adjournment of inquest. 
     Jurors’ recognizance. 
22. Coroner to sum up to jury. 
23. Coroner to draw up inquisition. 
24. Contents of inquisition. 
25. Procedure where death is found due to an act amounting to an offence. 
26. Power to arrest and commit for trial. 
27. [Repealed.] 
28. Warrant for disposal. 
29. Inquisitions not to be quashed for want of form. 
      Amendment of inquisition. 
30. Cessation of jurisdiction as to treasure-trove, wrecks, etc. 
      *Felo de se.*
      *Deodands.*

###CHAPTER IV 

###CORONERS' JURIES 

31. Fine on juror neglecting to attend. 
32. Certificate as to defaulting juror. 
      Service of copy of certificate. 
33. Levy of fine. 
34. Jurors not to be summoned twice within the year.  
35. Jurors on inquest on prisoner. 

###CHAPTER V 

###RIGHTS AND LIABILITIES OF CORONERS 

36. Coroner's salary. 
37. Disbursements to be repaid. 
38. Power to appoint deputy. 
      Revocation of appointment. 
39. Exemption from serving on juries. 
40. Privilege from arrest.  
41. Penalty for failure to comply with Act. 
42. Limitation of suits. 

FIRST SCHEDULE. — [Repealed.]  
SECOND SCHEDULE. — FORM OF INQUISITION. 

 
 
#THE CORONERS ACT, 1871 

##ACT NO. 4 OF 1871 [^1]

[27th January, 1871] 

An Act to consolidate and amend the laws relating to Coroners. 

WHEREAS it is expedient to consolidate and amend the laws relating to Coroners in the 
Presidency-towns; It is hereby enacted as follows:— 

###CHAPTER I 

###PRELIMINARY 

1. **Short title.**—This Act may be called the Coroners Act, 1871. 

2. [**Repeal of enactments**].—*Rep. by the Repealing Act*,1873 (12 of 1873). 

###CHAPTER II 

###APPOINTMENT OF CORONERS 

3. **Coroners of Calcutta and Bombay.**—Within the local limits of the ordinary original civil 
jurisdiction of each of the High Courts of Judicature at Fort William and Bombay there shall be a 
Coroner. Such  Coroners  shall  be  called  respectively  the  Coroner  of  Calcutta  and  the  Coroner  of 
Bombay.

4. **Their appointment, suspension and removal.**—Every such officer shall be appointed and 
may be suspended or removed by the State Government. 

5. **Coroners to be public servants.**— Every Coroner shall be deemed a public servant within 
the meaning of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860). 

6. **Power to hold other offices.** — Any Coroner may hold simultaneously any other office under 
Government. 

7. [*Oath to be taken by Coroner.*] — *Rep. by the Indian Oaths Act*, 1873 (10 of 1873). 
                                                           
##CHAPTER III 

###DUTIES AND POWERS OF CORONERS 

8. **Jurisdiction to inquire into deaths.**— When a Coroner has reason to believe that the 
death  of  any  person  has  been  caused  by  accident,  homicide,  suicide,  or  suddenly  by  means 
unknown, or that any person being a prisoner has died in prison, 

and that the body is lying within the place for which the Coroner is so appointed. 

the Coroner shall inquire into the cause of death. 

Every such inquiry shall be deemed a judicial proceeding within the meaning of section 193 
of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860). 

9. **Coroner to be sent for when prisoner dies.**—  Whenever  a  prisoner  dies  in  a  prison 
situate within the place for which a Coroner is so appointed, the Superintendent of the prison 
shall send for the Coroner before the body is disposed of. Any Superintendent failing herein 
shall on conviction before a Magistrate be punished with fine not exceeding five hundred rupees. 

Nothing in the former part of this section applies to cases in which the death has been caused 
by cholera or other epidemic disease.  

10. **Power to hold inquests on bodies within local limits wherever cause of death 
occurred.** —Whenever an inquest ought to be holden on any body lying dead within the local 
limits of the jurisdiction of any Coroner, he shall hold such inquest, whether or not the cause of 
death arose within his jurisdiction. 

11. **Power to order body to be disinterred.** —A Coroner may order a body to be disinterred 
within a reasonable time after the death of the deceased person either for the purpose of taking 
an original inquisition where none has been taken, or a further inquisition where the Coroner 
considers it necessary or desirable in the interests of justice to take a further inquisition.

12. **Summoning Jury.**—On  receiving  notice  of  any  death  mentioned  in  section  8,  the 
Coroner shall summon five, seven, nine, eleven, thirteen or fifteen respectable persons to appear 
before him at a time and place to be specified in the summons, for the purpose of inquiring when, 
how and by what means the deceased came by his death. 

**Inquest may be on Sundays.**—Any inquest under this Act may be held on a Sunday. 

13. **Opening Court.**—When  the  time  arrives,  the  Coroner  shall  proceed  to  the  place  so 
specified, open the Court by proclamation, and call over the names of the jurors. 

14. **Jurors to be Sworn.** — When a sufficient jury is in attendance, he shall administer an oath 
to each juror to give a true verdict according to the evidence, and shall then proceed with the jury to 
view the body. 
 
15. **View of body.**—The Coroner and the jury shall view and examine the body at the first sitting 
of the inquest, and the Coroner shall make such observations to the jury as the appearance of the body 
requires: 

Provided that the Coroner may, with the concurrence of a majority of the jury, dispense with a 
view of the body, if he is satisfied, from medical evidence or medical certificates, that no advantage 
would result from such viewing.

16. **Proclamation for witnesses.**—The Coroner shall then make proclamation for the attendance 
of  witnesses,  or,  where  the  inquiry  is  conducted  in  secret,  shall  call  in  separately  such  as  know 
anything concerning the death. 

17. **Summoning witnesses.**— It  shall  be  the  duty  of  all  persons  acquainted  with  the 
circumstances attending the death to appear before the inquest as witnesses; the Coroner shall inquire 
of such circumstances and the cause of death, and, if before or during the inquiry he is informed that 
any person, whether within or without the local limits of his jurisdiction, can give evidence or produce 
any document material thereto, may issue a summons requiring him to attend and give evidence or 
produce such document on the inquest. 

Any  person  disobeying  such  summons  shall  be  deemed  to  have  committed  an  offence 
under section 174, section 175 or section 176 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860), as the case may 
be.

For the purpose of causing prisoners to be brought up to give evidence, the Coroner shall be 
deemed a Criminal Court within the meaning of Part IX (Attendance in Courts) Act, 1955 (32 of 
1955) of the Prisoners Act, 1900 (3 of 1900). 

18. **Post-mortem examinations. Fees to medical witnesses.**—The  Coroner  may  direct  the 
performance of a *post-mortem* examination with or without an analysis of the contents of the stomach 
or intestines by any medical witness summoned to attend the inquest: and every medical witness, 
other than the Chemical Examiner to Government, shall be entitled to such reasonable remuneration 
as the Coroner thinks fit. 

18A. **Report of Chemical Examiner.**— Any document purporting to be a report under the 
hand of any Chemical Examiner or Assistant Chemical Examiner to Government upon any matter or 
thing duly submitted to him for examination or analysis and report in the course of any proceeding 
under this Act, may be used as evidence in any inquest under this Act and in any subsequent inquiry, 
trial or other proceeding under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898 (5 of 1898).

19. **Evidence to be on oath. Evidence on behalf of accused.**—All evidence given under this 
Act shall be on oath, and the Coroner shall be bound to receive evidence on behalf of the party (if 
any) accused of causing the death of the deceased person. 

**Interpreter.**—Witnesses unacquainted with the English language shall be examined through the 
medium of an interpreter, who shall be sworn to interpret truly as well the oath as the questions put 
to, and the answers given by, the witnesses.
 
**Questions suggested by jury.**—After each witness has been examined, the Coroner shall inquire 
whether the jury wish any further questions to be put to the witness, and, if the jury wish that any 
such questions should be put, the Coroners shall put them accordingly. 

20. **Coroner to take down evidence in writing.**—The  Coroner  shall  commit  to  writing  the 
material parts of the evidence given to the jury, and shall read or cause to be read over such parts to 
the witness and then procure his signature thereto. 

**Witnesses to sign depositions.**—Any  witnesses  refusing  so  to  sign  shall  be  deemed  to  have 
committed an offence under section 180 of the Indian Penal Code (45 of 1860). 

**Coroner to subscribe deposition.**—Every such deposition shall be subscribed by the Coroner. 

**Coroner a Magistrate.**— For the purposes of section 26 of the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (1 
of 1872), a Coroner shall be deemed to be a Magistrate.

21. **Adjournment of inquest.** —The Coroner may adjourn the inquest from time to time, and 
from place to place.  

**Jurors’ recognizances.**—Whenever  the  inquest  is  adjourned  the  Coroner  shall  take  the 
recognizances of the jurors to attend at the time and place appointed, and notify to the witnesses when 
and where the inquest will be proceeded with. 

The amount of such recognizances shall in each case be fixed by the Coroner and the whole, or 
such  part  thereof  as  to  the  Coroner  seems  fit,  shall,  in  default  of  attendance  by  the  jurors,  be 
recoverable in the same manner as a fine imposed under section 31.

22. **Coroner to sum up to jury.**—When all the witnesses have been examined, the Coroner 
shall sum up the evidence to the jury, and the jury shall then consider of their verdict. 

23. **Coroner to draw up inquisition.**—When the verdict is delivered the Coroner shall draw 
up the inquisition according to the finding of the jury, or, when the jury is not unanimous, according 
to the opinion of the majority. 

24. **Contents of inquisition.** —Every inquisition under this Act shall be signed by the Coroner 
with his name and style of office and by the jurors, and shall set forth— 

(1) where, when and before whom the inquisition is holden, 
(2) who the deceased is, 
(3) where his body lies, 
(4) the names of the jurors, and that they present the inquisition upon oath, 
(5) where, when and by what means the deceased came by his death, and 
(6) if his death was occasioned by the criminal act of another, who is guilty thereof. 

If the name of the deceased be unknown, he may be described as a certain person to the jurors 
unknown. 

Every such inquisition shall be in the form set forth in the Second Schedule hereto annexed, with 
such variation as the circumstances of each case require.  

25. **Procedure where death is found due to an act amounting to an offence.**—When the 
jury or a majority of the jury find that the death of the deceased person was occasioned by an act 
which amounts to an offence under any law in force in India, the Coroner shall immediately after 
the inquest forward a copy of the inquisition, together with the names and addresses of the witnesses, 
to the Commissioner of Police.

26. **Power to arrest and commit for trial.**—The Coroner may also, where the verdict justifies 
him in so doing, issue his warrant for the apprehension of the person who is found to have caused the 
death of the deceased person, and send him forthwith to a Magistrate empowered to commit him for 
trial.

27. [Repealed].—[Power to  accept  bail.] *Rep. by the Coroners (Amendment) Act*, 1908 (4 of 
1908), s. 10. 

28. **Warrant for disposal.**— When the proceedings are closed, or before, if it be necessary to 
adjourn the inquest, the Coroner shall give his warrant for the disposal of the body on which the 
inquest has been taken. 

29. **Inquisitions not to be quashed for want of form. Amendment of inquisition.**—No 
inquisition found upon or by any inquest shall be quashed for any technical defect. 

In any  case  of  technical  defect,  a  Judge  of  the  High  Court  may,  if  he  thinks  fit,  order  the 
inquisition to be amended, and the same shall forthwith be amended accordingly. 

30. **Cessation of jurisdiction as to treasure trove, wrecks, etc.** —It shall no longer be the duty 
of the Coroner to inquire whether any person dying by his own act was or was not  felo de se, to 
inquire of treasure trove or wrecks, to seize any fugitive's goods, to execute process or to exercise as 
Coroner any jurisdiction not expressly conferred by this Act. 

*Felo de se. —A felo de se shall not forfeit his goods.*

*Deodands. —Deodands are hereby abolished.*

##CHAPTER IV 

###CORONERS’ JURIES 

31. **Fine on juror neglecting to attend.** —Whenever any person has been duly summoned to 
appear as a juror by a Coroner, and fails or neglects to attend at the time and place specified in the 
summons, the Coroner may cause him to be openly called in his Court three times to appear and serve 
as a juror; and upon the non-appearance of such person, and proof that such summons has been served 
upon him or left at his usual place of abode, may impose such fine upon the defaulter, not exceeding 
fifty rupees, as to the Coroner seems fit. 

32. **Certificate as to defaulting juror. Service of copy of certificate.** —The Coroner shall make 
out and sign a certificate, containing the name and surname, the residence and trade or calling of 
every person so making default, together with the amount of the fine so imposed, and the cause of 
such fine, 

and shall send such certificate to one of the Magistrates of the place of which he is the Coroner, 
and shall cause a copy of such certificate to be served upon the person so fined, by having it left 
at his usual place of residence, or by sending the same through the Post Office, addressed as aforesaid 
and registered. 

33. **Levy of fine.** —There upon such Magistrate shall cause the fine to be levied in the same 
manner as if it had been imposed by himself. 

34. **Jurors not to be summoned twice within the year.** —Unless in case of necessity, no person 
who has appeared, or has been summoned to appear, as a juror on an inquest, and has not made default 
shall, within one year after such appearance or summons, be summoned to appear as a juror under 
this Act. 

35. **Jurors on inquest on prisoner.** —When an inquest is held on the body of a prisoner dying 
within a prison, no officer of the prison and no prisoner confined therein shall be a juror on such 
inquest. 

##CHAPTER V 

###RIGHTS AND LIABILITIES OF CORONERS 

36. **Coroner’s salary.** —Every Coroner shall be entitled to such salary for the performance of 
the duty of his office as is prescribed in that behalf by the State Government. 

37. **Disbursements to be repaid.**—All disbursements duly made by a Coroner for fees to medical 
witnesses, hire of rooms for the jury, and the like, shall be repaid to him by the State Government. 

38. **Power to appoint deputy. Revocation of appointment.**— Every Coroner may from time to 
time, with the previous sanction of the State Government, appoint, by writing under his hand, a proper 
person to act for him as his deputy in the holding of inquests.

All  inquests  taken  and  other  acts  done  by  any  such  deputy,  under  or  by  virtue  of  any  such 
appointment, shall be deemed to be the acts of the Coroner appointing him: 

Provided that no such deputy shall act for any such Coroner except during the illness of the said 
Coroner, or during his absence for any lawful and reasonable cause. 

Every such appointment may at any time be cancelled and revoked by the Coroner by whom it 
was made. 

39. **Exemption from serving on juries.** — No Coroner or Deputy Coroner shall be liable to 
serve as a Juror. 

40. **Privilege from arrest.** — Coroners and Deputy Coroners shall be privileged from arrest 
while engaged in the discharge of their official duty. 

41. **Penalty for failure to comply with Act.** — Any  Coroner  or  Deputy  Coroner  failing  to 
comply with the provisions of this Act, or otherwise misconducting himself in the execution of his 
office, shall be liable to such fine as the Chief Justice of the High Court, upon summary examination 
and proof of the failure or misconduct, thinks fit to impose. 

42. **Limitation of suits.** — No proceeding for anything done under this Act, or for any failure to 
comply with its provisions, shall be commenced or prosecuted after tender of sufficient amends. 
 

                                                           
###FIRST SCHEDULE 

FIRST SCHEDULE. *[Enactments repealed.] Rep. by the Repealing Act*, 1873 (12 of 1873). s. 1 and 
Sch., Pt. II. 


                                                           
 
###SECOND SCHEDULE 

FORM OF INQUISITION 

AN INQUISITION taken at                                on the                          day of             187 
before E F, Coroner of in the case of A B deceased upon the oath of G H, I J, K L, and M N, then 
and there duly sworn and charged to inquire when, how and by what means the said A B came to his 
death. 

We, the said jurors, find unanimously [or by a majority of             ] that the death of the said A B 
was caused, on or about the     day of     187, by [here state the cause of death as in the following 
examples]: —  

1. [Cases of homicide] — a blow on the head with a stick inflicted on him by C D, under such             
                                        circumstances that the act of C D was justifiable [or accidental]  
                                        homicide. 

                                   — a stab on the heart with a knife inflicted on him by C D under such 
circumstances  that  the  act  of  C  D  was  culpable  homicide  not       
amounting to murder [or culpable homicide amounting to murder,      or 
a rash or negligent act not amounting to culpable homicide]. 

2. [Cases of accident] —falling out of a boat into the river Hughli, whereby he was drowned.  
                                   —a kick from a horse which fractured his skull and ruptured blood-  
                                   vessels in his head. 

3. [Cases of suicide] — shooting himself through the head with a pistol. 
                                — arsenic, which he voluntarily administered to himself. 

4. [Cases of sudden death by means unknown] — disease of the heart. 
                                                                          — apoplexy.
                                                                          —  sunstroke. 

  And so say the jurors upon their oath aforesaid. 

  Witness our hands. E F, Coroner of  

G H, I J, K L, M N, O P (jurors). 