117 N.E. 618 | NY | 1917
"The coroner's is also a very ancient office at the common law" (1 Blackstone, 346), dating from an ordinance of the year 1194 or before then. (1 Pollock Maitland [2d ed.], 534.) The principal duty of the coroner is to hold an inquisition, with the assistance of a jury, over the body of any person who may have come to a violent death in his county. The office and power of a coroner are "principally judicial." (1 Blackstone, 348; People
v. Jackson,
By chapter 284, Laws of 1915, the office of coroner in Greater New York was abolished, to take effect January 1, 1918, and the office of chief medical examiner of the city of New York was established to be filled by appointment by the mayor. The duty of such chief medical examiner and his assistants is to investigate the circumstances of all violent and suspicious deaths and to file *417
a written report thereof in his office and to make autopsies if necessary. Appellants contend that the act is unconstitutional and void, as being in conflict with the home rule provision of section 2 of article 10 of the Constitution of the state of New York. Even if the duties of coroner devolved in their entirety upon the chief medical examiner, the legislature had full power to provide that the duties of such office should be exercised by an officer to be appointed by the mayor rather than by several officers to be elected by the boroughs. (People ex rel. Metr.St. Ry. Co. v. State Board of Tax Commissioners,
The order appealed from should be affirmed, with costs.
HISCOCK, Ch. J., COLLIN, CUDDEBACK, HOGAN, McLAUGHLIN and ANDREWS, JJ., concur.
Order affirmed. *418