These Rules consolidate with minor amendments the Coroners Rules 1953 as from time to time amended. They govern the powers and duties of coroners in England and Wales, and associated procedural matters, in relation to the holding of inquests and post-mortem examinations. The principal amendment of substance is the introduction of Rule 30, with its associated form in Schedule 4, Form 14. The Rule obliges a coroner, when he has adjourned an inquest and is unable to furnish the registrar of deaths with a certificate stating the particulars which are required to be registered concerning the death, to issue to any properly interested person who applies to him a certificate (Form 14) recording the date of the deceased's death and the precise medical cause (if established).
Another amendment of substance is the removal of “chronic alcoholism” from the list of suggested verdicts in the notes to the Form of Inquisition (Schedule 4, Form 22); and, also in the notes to that form, the suggested verdict “C.D. died from addiction to drugs” has been altered to “C.D. died from dependence on drugs/non-dependent abuse of drugs”.