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Inquests to be held by coroner of place where body lying.

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the District shall invariably hold an Inquest. No officer of any Prison or Lunatic Asylum nor any prisoner shall be a Juror on such Inquest. (5 of 1876, s. 187.)

215. The Coroner only within whose jurisdiction the body of any person shall be, upon whose death an Inquest ought to be holden, shall hold the Inquest, notwithstanding that the cause of death arose elsewhere: and if any body is found in the sea, or in any river, creek, or navigable canal within the flowing of the sea, or in any inland waters, the Inquest shall be held by the Coroner within whose jurisdiction the body is first brought to land. (5 of 1876, s. 188.)

216. If any person is charged with the murder or manslaughter commitment, of such person, as principal or accessory, the Coroner holding the Inquest and the Court for the Province in which it is held, shall have the same powers for the commitment, trial, and execution of the sentence of any person so charged as they would have had if the cause of death had arisen within the said Province and the District of the said Coroner. (5 of 1876, s. 189.)

Coroner may postpone burial till

217. The Coroner may prohibit the burial of any body in his District until an Inquest shall have been held. An Inquest may after inquest. lawfully be held, and every act in relation to the holding of Inquests shall be lawfully done, on any Sunday or Holiday. (5 of 1876, s. 190.)

Coroner may direct postmortem examinations.

Medical practitioner shall immediately make post

POST-MORTEM EXAMINATIONS.

218. *If any Coroner considers it necessary, with a view to investigating the circumstances of the death of any person, to obtain a Medical Report of the appearances of the body, and as to the conclusions to be drawn therefrom, he may direct any duly qualified Medical Practitioner resident in his District to make a post-mortem examination of the body and to report: provided that no such Practitioner shall be required to travel for such purpose to any greater distance than three miles from the place of his residence for the time being. (5 of 1876, s. 191.)

219. Every Medical Practitioner so directed shall (unless he immediately procures the services of some other Medical Practitioner to perform the duty), immediately upon the receipt of such direction, proceed to the place where the dead body shall be, and mination and shall make a post-mortem examination thereof, with a view to determine therefrom the cause of the death, and to throw all the light upon the circumstances connected with the death that such an examination can supply, and shall report in writing to the Coroner

mortem exa

report.

See Consolidated Regulations, Appendix A., Supreme Court Ordinance.

stating the appearances of the body, and the conclusions which he draws therefrom touching the death of such person. The examination shall extend, when the Medical Practitioner considers it necessary, but not otherwise, to such dissection of the body as he thinks requisite. Such report shall be primâ facie evidence of the facts therein stated. (5 of 1876, s. 192.)

220. Every Medical Practitioner shall be entitled, for services Remuneraconnected with Inquests, to the remuneration stated in the Appendix tion of medical pracB of the Supreme Court Ordinance. But no Medical Practitioner titioners. in Government employ shall be entitled to be paid for services rendered by him at any Inquest on a prisoner or person confined in a lunatic asylum, except a fee of one guinea for a post-mortem examination made at the Coroner's request. (5 of 1876, s. 193, and 7 of 1879, s. 1.)

PROCEDURE AT THE INQUEST.

summoned.

221. The Jury upon any Inquest shall consist of twelve, or any Composition lesser number not being less than five, persons, who may be taken of jury: how from the Jurors' List for the District, or be persons dwelling near the place where the Inquest is held, though not on the List. Every Juror shall be sufficiently summoned, if he be required verbally to attend by the Officer executing the summons, and the summons be shown to him; the Officer shall endorse a memorandum on the back of the summons stating the place and time of service. (5 of 1876, s. 194.)

222. If any person so summoned fails to attend and serve as a Penalty on Juror, he shall incur the like penalty as a Juror summoned and failure to failing to attend and serve at any Assizes. (5 of 1876, s. 195.)

serve.

223. Before any evidence is taken every Juror shall take an Juror's oath. oath, which may be in the following form:

You shall well and truly try and inquire for and on behalf of our Sovereign Lord the King, when, how, and by what means A. B. [or a certain person whose name is unknown], of whose body you shall have the view, came to his death, and a true verdict give according to the evidence; So help you God. (5 of 1876, s. 196.)

224. The Coroner may adjourn any Inquest to a future hour or Adjournment. day, and to the same or another place, as may be necessary, taking the recognizances of the Jurors to attend at the time and place appointed, and notifying to the witnesses when and where the Inquest will be proceeded with. (5 of 1876, s. 197.)

Coroner to take depositions of witnesses.

How verdict taken.

225. The depositions of every witness shall be taken in writing by the Coroner, in the same manner, as nearly as may be, as the depositions in the investigation of any charge preliminary to Trial on Information. (5 of 1876, s. 198.)

226. When all the evidence offered, or which can be obtained, is closed, the Coroner shall sum up the evidence and take the verdict of the Jury. The verdict, which may be that of a majority of the Jurors present, shall then and there be reduced to writing, and signed by the Jurors and countersigned by the Coroner. (5 of 1876, s. 199.)

Coroner may

issue warrant to arrest any

suspected person.

Proceedings

upon apprehension of accused person.

Coroner to commit accused for trial or not,

according to

his own judgment.

Return of

RESPECTING ACCUSED PERSONS.

227. If it appears to the Coroner, from any charge made previous to the Inquest, or from the evidence of any witness thereon, that there is reason to suspect any person of being guilty respecting the death of the deceased, or if a verdict of murder or manslaughter, or as accessory to murder, be found against any person, the Coroner shall issue his warrant for the arrest of such person, and for bringing him before the Coroner and Jury, or before the Coroner in case the Inquest shall have terminated. (5 of 1876, s. 200.)

228. Upon such person being brought before the Coroner, or the Coroner and Jury, if the Inquest shall not have terminated, the witnesses who shall have given evidence shall be re-examined in presence of the accused person, so far as their statements are material, and may be cross-examined by the accused, and the procedure shall be the same in all respects touching the examination of the witnesses, the interrogation of the accused by the Coroner, and the calling and examination of witnesses on behalf of the accused if he so desires, and the binding the witnesses by recognizance and otherwise, as in any other case of a person being charged with an offence which may be tried upon Information. (5 of 1876, s. 201.)

229. Whatever verdict may be returned by the Jury, the Coroner shall commit any accused person for trial or discharge him, according to his own deliberate judgment, whether in conformity with the verdict or not, recording briefly on the Minutes in the latter case the reasons of his decision; and such commitment or discharge shall have the like effect and be subject to the like incidents in all respects as any other case of the commitment or discharge of an accused person upon investigation of the charge. (5 of 1876, s. 202.)

230. Every Inquisition, including the depositions and the inquisitions. statement of the accused, and the recognizances of witnesses, if any, shall be transmitted by the Coroner, with all convenient despatch,

to the Supreme Court, and in case a verdict shall have been found against any person, or any person shall have been committed for trial, an authenticated copy of the Inquisition, depositions, and statements of the accused, shall be transmitted to the AttorneyGeneral. (5 of 1876, s. 203.)

THE FIRST SCHEDULE (s. 119).

List of offences appropriated to be tried with a Jury when the trial is held at Lagos:

Any offence of arson under common or statute law. Any offence against the person under the Imperial Act 24 and 25 Victoria, chapter 100, or any Act amending or substituted for the same, save the offences under the 531d, 54th, 55th, 56th, 57th, 58th, 59th and 60th Sections of the said Act. Any offence of larceny, embezzlement or burglary under common or statute law, and any other offences under the Imperial Act 24 and 25 Victoria, chapter 96, or any Act amending or substituted for the same, save the offences under the 67th, 68th, 69th, 70th, 75th, 76th, 77th, 78th, 79th, 80th, 81st, 82nd, 83rd, 84th, and 90th Sections of the said Act. Any offence of piracy under common or statute law. Any offence of counterfeiting or altering money, uttering or bringing into circulation counterfeit or altered money or any other offence under the Imperial Act 24 and 25 Victoria, chapter 99, or any Act amending or substituted for the same. Any offence of attempting to commit or of aiding and abetting or of being accessory before or after the fact to any of the offences herein before enumerated:

Provided that where a person is charged with any of the offences herein before directed to be tried with a Jury or with any offence not directed to be so tried, and part of the charge is not proved but the part which is proved amounts to a different offence, he may be convicted by the Jury or by the Court with Assessors as the case may be, of the offence which he is proved to have committed. (Order of 4th April, 1877, amended.)

THE SECOND SCHEDULE (s. 151).

FORMS OF ORDER OF GOVERNOR.

A.-Order for sentence of death to be carried out.

Whereas at the Assizes holden at

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on the

day of

was duly convicted of a capital offence

and was sentenced to death;

1

And whereas a copy of the minutes of the proceedings and of his notes of evidence taken on the trial has been forwarded to me by the presiding judge, with a report in writing signed by him; And whereas I have considered the said report in Council; Now therefore I do hereby order that the said sentence be carried out according to law, and that the said

at

at eight o'clock in the forenoon of the next following, and that the body of the said

be executed day of

be buried in

the usual place of interment for condemned criminals.
Given under my hand and the public seal of the Colony of
Southern Nigeria this

day of

19 ?

Governor.

B.-Order for sentence of death to be commuted.

[Recitals as in Form A.]

Now therefore I do hereby order that the said sentence be not carried out, and that in lieu thereof the said

be imprisoned

and kept in penal servitude for [life or a term of years].
Given, &c.

C.-Order for pardon of convict sentenced to death.

[Recitals as in Form A.]

Now therefore I do hereby order that the said sentence be not carried out, and that the said be granted a free pardon [or a pardon subject to the following conditions] in respect of the offence of which he has been convicted as aforesaid.

Given, &c.

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