becoming a mortician, what one notices, and police handling of deaths and dead bodies

[pico_the_great]

Little Details, I have a set of questions I've put off asking because they are long and complicated and because I'd had to do massive amounts of research for them, and that, at this point, I can't progress without asking/knowing. AND SO I am moved to come to your world and of ye these questions three many, because please help.

SO.

My Questions

Comments

[dorsetgirl]

It's my understanding that the point of an inquest is, and always has been, not only to determine the cause of death - sometimes that's completely obvious - but to determine exactly how the circumstances causing the death came about. This would then perhaps lead to prosecution of the person whose fault it was, or at least an improvement in safety procedures where no-one was found to be at fault.

This means that inquests are held not only on suspicious deaths, but also on accidental and unexpected ones.

I don't know much about the 1600s/1700s, but I'm not convinced post-mortem examinations were generally carried out then. I can say that into the 1860s the inquest was generally carried out very soon - like within hours, as soon as they could round up a jury, and they were still doing them in pubs at that time. Witness statements were taken from the obvious candidates - the person who found the body, the person who last saw them alive, anyone who witnessed the event, any person in a position to speak about the person's health or state of mind if these are relevant.

The phrase used, in all seriousness, was "a coroner's inquest sat on the body on Wednesday (or whenever)".

[pico_the_great]

Thank you! Also, that phrasing...