Coroners have always been associated with investigating death, but this ancient office has undergone considerable reform since its creation in the twelfth century. The role of the coroner of the twenty-first century involves investigating death, conducting autopsies, furnishing reports, issuing death certificates and if necessary, testifying in court hearings. However, the original function of the office of coroner was linked to raising revenue for the King in the form of large fines or “amercements”. By the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries the prestige and fiscal functions of the medieval coroner had diminished as a result of the increased power of justices. The gradual move away from justices’ control during the eighteenth century elevated the status of the coroner, whose role evolved into one that formed a more effective system for reporting and investigating cause of death. This in turn further legitimised the role of the office of coroner in the English legal system. It was this “modernised” institution that formed the foundation of coronial law and practice in Australia.