ABSTRACT
The concept of causation is fundamental to the coronial function. In fact, society's need to determine the reasons lying behind unexpected, suspicious and violent deaths continues to this day as a principal reason for coroners having the role of conducting formal inquests. Coroners in England, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have as key parts of their role to determine the identity of persons who have died in prescribed circumstances, to make findings about how deaths have occurred and to rule upon what constituted the cause or causes of deaths. In some jurisdictions, the obligation to decide formally whether a person contributed to the cause of death is stipulated; in others it is regarded as subsidiary to other findings. In some jurisdictions, the coroner has additional but cognate responsibilities - to determine the origin and cause of fires, whether or not causing death; to ascertain the origin and cause of explosions; and to find out what caused certain kinds of accidents and other dangerous phenomena.
