County of Northampton v. Innes
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Error to the Common Pleas of Northampton county. This was an action brought before a justice of the peace by Dr. Charles Junes against the county of Northampton, and removed into the Court of Common Pleas by appeal. Mrs. Margaret Presser resided with her daughters and son-in-law in the village of Williamsport, in the county of Northampton.
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Error to the Common Pleas of Northampton county. This was an action brought before a justice of the peace by Dr. Charles Junes against the county of Northampton, and removed into the Court of Common Pleas by appeal. Mrs. Margaret Presser resided with her daughters and son-in-law in the village of Williamsport, in the county of Northampton. She was taken sick and attended by a physician for some weeks, and died in her own house in June, 1852. Before the interment of the body, the coroner of the county requested the plaintiff and another physician to attend and make a post mortem examination.…
1Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
Lewis, 0. J.
The statute of Edward the 4th, regulating the duties of the coroner in respect to an inquest super visum corporis, is in affirmance of the common law, one of the great advantages of which is its constant adaptation to the progress of business, the advanced state of the sciences, and the habits of the people. In this enlightened age, a coroner who would consign to the grave the body over which he had held an inquest, without availing himself of the lights which the medical science has placed within his reach, would in most cases fall short…
2Cited by3 opinions
- Graham v. Schuylkill CountySuperior Court of Pennsylvania · 1901
- Commonwealth v. HaleySupreme Court of Pennsylvania · 1948
- Almedia v. Allegheny County, Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Alleghany County1967