Note 514 — POWERS AND DUTIES OF CORONERS AND MEDICAL EXAMINERS.

County of Lancaster v. Mishler, 100 Pa. St., 624. In this, a suit by the coroner against the county to recover his fees, it was held that this presumption was not conclusive, and evidence was admissible to show that he acted in bad faith and knowingly without sufficient cause or reason. The Court said: “The duty of a coroner to hold an inquest rests on sound reason, on that reason which is the life of the law. It is not a power to be exercised capriciously and arbitrarily against all reason. The object of an inquest is to seek information, and obtain and secure evidence, in case of death by violence or other undue means. If there be reasonable ground to suspect it was so caused, it becomes the duty of the coroner to act. If he has no grounds for suspecting that the death was not a natural one, it is a perversion of the whole spirit of the law to compel the county to pay for such services.”