Records of the Isle of Man Courts of Justice: Inquest Case Paper Record Book

One volume comprising handwritten entries which capture the following high level, summarised information in relation to Coroner's Inquest proceedings heard on the Isle of Man:
- name
- date of death
- date of inquest
- coroner
- cause of death
- verdict

The earliest evidence of ''enquest'' style proceedings occurring on the Isle of Man dates from the late 13th century.

However, it was only from the early decades of the 17th century, and under the influence of English methodologies, that inquests proceedings began to take on a more recognisable contemporary form - that is, bodies which could make presentments and hear proceedings. Inquest proceedings could be impanelled to examine a variety of different matters. As a result, there are a number of different types of bodies of Inquest/Inquiry on the Isle of Man:

- 'Great Enquest' or 'Bing Vooar'- a jury of twelve drawn from each of the constituent parishes of a given Island Sheading. The members of the jury were sworn in and impanelled for a period of six months by the Deemster. During this term jurors were responsible for delivering presentments and verdicts to the Deemsters, as often as required;

- 'Jury of Enquiry' - a jury of four usually impanelled to examine a matter specified via a charge or directive issued by one of the Island's Deemsters;
- 'Trespass Jury' - a jury of four impanelled to examine: complaints of trespass; complaints in respect cutting of trees, throwing down of fences resulting from trespass; and complaints of extraordinary damage to property resulting from trespass;

- 'Long Jury' - a jury of twelve impanelled for a period of six months and elected in the same way as the 'Great Enquest'. The 'Long Jury' was responsible for approving and confirming verdicts delivered by the 'Great Enquest'. In the event that the 'Long Jury' was found to have acted partially, a further traverse to the Keys was provisioned for;

- 'Setting Quest' - a jury typically comprised of four of the Lord's tenants from within a given parish. Each parish had a Setting Quest responsible for assisting the officers of the court in: finding suitable replacement tenants to fill tenancies vacated through death or alienation; advising on the equitable division of joint estates; and advising on the apportioning of rents within the parish;

- 'Coroner's Quest' - a jury of seven impanelled to aid the officers of the court in the examination of the circumstances surrounding deaths occurring within the jurisdiction.

This series is closed as it is currently subject to a B2/C2 closure period of 100 years under the Public Records Order 2015 due to statutory data protection restriction laid down in the Data Protection Act 2018.

Please contact the Isle of Man Public Record Office for further information: public.records@gov.im .

For information on visiting the Isle of Man Public Record Office please see our website: www.gov.im/pro .

Please see our website for catalogues: www.gov.im/pro .

Catalogued by Gavin Rowan, Records & Archive Officer, May-October 2021.

Crown copyright for unpublished items - expires 125 years from the end of the calendar year of creation.

Records were selected for permanent preservation in accordance with Part 1 of the Isle of Man Courts Record retention schedule, dated June 2018.

The volume comprising this series was created and maintained as a high level summary of verdicts delivered by the Coroner of Inquest for the Island. The volume was later fully transferred as an accession under section 3(4) of the Public Records Act 1999 on the authority of the Chief Registrar, 17 October 2019.

Accruals are expected for this series.