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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 21st APRIL, 1888.

GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.-No. 159.

373

The following Bill, which was read a first time at a Meeting of the Legislative Council held yesterday, is published for general information.

ARATHOON SETH, Clerk of Councils.

Council Chamber, Hongkong, 19th April, 1888.

A BILL

ENTITLED

The Coroner's abolition Ordinance, 1888.

HEREAS it is expedient to abolish the Office of

W Coroner and to provide for the discharge of the

duties thereof by the Magistrates; Be it enacted by the Governor of Hongkong with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council thereof, as follows :-

1. Magistrate in this Ordinance shall mean any Magistrate appointed by the Governor to discharge the duties of Coroner, or, in his absence or inability to act, any Police Magistrate.

2. From the time of the coming into force of this Ordinance the Office of Coroner and all incidental Offices thereto attached shall be abolished.

3. The duties hitherto performed by the Coroner shall be performed by the Magistrates or either of them as the Governor may from time to time direct, and the Magistrates shall have, in relation to such duties, all the powers and privileges a Coroner had by law at the time of the coming into force of this Ordinance.

4. The Governor may from time to time by order under his hand set apart suitable places for the reception of dead bodies for the purpose of post mortem examination, and may make regulations for the management of such places. When any such place has been set apart the Magistrate may order the removal of any dead body to and from such place for the purpose of any post mortem examination, and may order the cost of such removal to be defrayed from public funds.

5. The Superintendent of the Civil Hospital or such other medical officer as may be appointed by the Governor for the duty, shall, on receiving any dead body, make a preliminary external examination thereof, and report in writing to the Magistrate, who may, if he considers it necessary, order an autopsy, the medical officer making which shall further report to the Magistrate on the cause of death.

6. Whenever any person shall die suddenly, or by accident or violence, or under suspicious circumstances, or whenever any dead body shall be found within the Colony or shall be brought into the Colony, the Magistrate may, if he considers an enquiry to be necessary, enquire into the cause of death of such person without a jury, and (in his discretion) with or without view of the body, and may determine the cause of death, and make such order with regard thereto as he shall consider necessary. Such enquiry may be held notwith- standing that the cause of death did not arise within the Colony.

7. Whenever any prisoner shall die in Gaol, and whenever any person shall suffer capital punishment, the Magistrate shall, within 24 hours (or 48 hours if a Sunday intervene) with a jury of three persons as hereinafter provided, view the body and enquire into the cause of death, and may make such order in relation thereto as he may consider necessary.

8. Whenever a Magistrate shall require a jury under Section 8, the Registrar of the Supreme Court shall, on receipt of a requisition from such Magistrate, draw from the Common Jurors Ballot Box for the year the names of six jurors to form a panel, which panel the Registrar shall transmit to the Magistrate. All the provisions of The Jury Consolidation Ordinance, No 18 of 1887, shall apply, as far as may be, to such drawing, in the same manner as if the jurors were required for a common jury in the Supreme Court.

Preamble.

Definition.

Office of Coroner abolished

Duties to be performed by Magistrates.

Places for post mortem. (29 and 30 V. č. 90. 8. 20; 38 and 39 V. c. 55. 8. 143.)

Preliminary examination of bodica. (7 of 68, 7.)

Sudden or violent deaths.

(6 V. c. 12, 8.1.)

Deaths in Gaol and executions. (11 of 64, 27.)

Panel for Jury. (7 of 68, 4.)