38-5-101 - Affidavit required to hold inquest. - Tennessee Statutes

38-5-101. Affidavit required to hold inquest.

No inquest shall be held by the coroner or any court of general sessions over the dead body of any person until an affidavit, in writing, is made and signed by two (2) or more reliable persons, averring the death of the person and that there is good reason to believe that the person died by unlawful violence at the hands of some other person; and without the affidavit, in writing, the coroner or court shall have no jurisdiction to hold an inquest over the dead body of any person, and all proceedings without the affidavit shall be utterly void and useless. Unless the provisions of this section are literally, rigidly, and strictly complied with, and the affidavit filed with the papers, the coroner or court shall receive no fees or compensation for holding the inquest.

[Acts 1895, ch. 31, § 1; Shan., § 7274; Code 1932, § 11876; impl. am. Acts 1979, ch. 68, § 3; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 38-401.]