Inquisition - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition inquisition

Definition :

Inquisition, inquiry, inquest; the finding of a tribunal charged to inquire. The three best known inquisitions are:-

1. A coroner's inquisition, which is [see (English) Coroners Act,1887, s. 4, sub-s. 3] a certificate of the verdict of the jury, 'setting forth, so far as such particulars have been proved to them, who the deceased was, and how, when, and where the deceased came by his death; and if he came by his death by murder or manslaughter, the persons, if any, whom the jury find to have been guilty of such murder or manslaughter, or of being accessories before the fact to such murder.' The inquisition must be signed by the jurors. A form is given in the Third Schedule of the (English) Coroners Rules, 1927 (S.R. & O. 1927, No. 344/L. 13). See also CORONER.

2. Inquisition as to lunacy, which is an inquiry directed by the judge in lunacy, as to whether a person is of unsound mind and incapable of managing his affairs. It is held before a jury, if the person alleged to be of unsound mind demands a jury, unless the judge is satisfied by personal examination that he is not mentally competent to form and express a wish to that effect. See (English) Lunacy Act, 1890, ss. 90-107. By s. 90, sub-s. 2, the jury may specially find that the person is incapable of managing himself, but capable of managing his affairs. And see PERSON OF UNSOUND MIND and Mills' and Poyser's Lunacy Practice.

3. Inquisition under the Lands Clauses Acts, which is the verdict and judgment, after an inquiry before a sheriff and jury, as to the amount of purchase-money or compensation due to a claimant under those Acts. See s.50 of the (English) Lands Clauses Act, 1845, which, however, uses the term 'verdict and judgment,' and not 'inquisition.'

Means (1) The record of the finding of the jury sworn by the coronor to inquiry into a person's death (2) A judicial inquiry, esp. in a derogatory sense (3) A persistent, grueling examination conducted with-out regard for the examinee's dignity of civil rights, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 796.