The recent verdict at the inquest of the Croydon Tram crash has generated a great deal of news coverage. As most people know, a tram came off the rails on 9 November 2016, causing the death of seven people. The verdict of ‘accidental death’ has not been well-received by the families of the deceased.
We hear about inquests all the time in the news. But what are inquests exactly? Where do they come from? And why do we have them?
In times gone by
Inquests have been around for a remarkably long time. In his account of the culture of the Gauls, Julius Caesar mentioned a vaguely inquest-like procedure used among the ancient Gauls: ‘If a matter comes into suspicion about a death, they hold an inquiry (a quaestio) concerning the wives in the method used for slaves, and if guilt is established, they kill the wives, who have been tortured, with fire and all torments’ (rather ironically for Julius Caesar, one of
