Chief Coroner’s Law Sheet #6, 13.1.2021 The new Chief Coroner, HHJ Teague QC, has just published his first legal guidance in the form of “Law Sheet 6” addressing the impact of the case of R (on the application of Maughan) v Her Majesty’s Senior Coroner for Oxfordshire [2020] UKSC 46 on coronial practice. These Law Sheets are […]
Read More… from The implications of Maughan: the Chief Coroner’s Law Sheet #6
R (Maughan) v Senior Coroner for Oxfordshire [2020] UKSC 46 There is perhaps no better example of the judicial development of our common law than Maughan. A case which began with a family member appealing against what they believed was the incorrect application of the civil standard of proof to a suicide conclusion has ended […]
Read More… from Probably unlawful killing: a new inquest conclusion
Chief Constable West Yorks Police v Dyer & Assistant Coroner for West Yorkshire & others [2020] EWCA Civ 1375 Judicial endorsement that Black Lives Matter sends an important message to all. Whilst our British judges might never be expected to deliver as hard hitting and politicised a judgment as that handed down by the wonderful […]
Read More… from Open justice in Coroners Courts: Why Black Lives (and deaths) should Matter
Rushbrooke v HM Coroner for West London [2020] EWHC 1612 (Admin) With such a huge backlog of inquest cases waiting to be heard and the difficulties of convening inside a courtroom during the current pandemic, the appeal of holding a swifter, documentary only inquest is plain to see. However, the recent case of Rushbrooke is […]
Read More… from The perils of fast-tracked documentary inquests
R (Skelton) v Senior Coroner for West Sussex and the Chief Constable of Sussex Police & Robert Trigg (interested parties) [2020] EWHC 2813 (Admin) Determining whether Art 2 procedural obligations are engaged at an inquest can be one of the most challenging legal questions in the coronial jurisdiction. The issue for a coroner is not […]