Part 2: Courts, tribunals and coroners Chapter 4: Coroners Section 39: Discontinuance of investigation where cause of death becomes clear
This is an amendment to section 4 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 ("the 2009 Act") which will broaden the circumstances in which an investigation can be discontinued. Subsection (1) is introductory and provides for section 4 to be amended as provided in the following subsections.
	Subsection (2) substitutes "revealed by post-mortem examination" for "becomes clear before inquest" in the section heading.
	Subsection (3) sets out the circumstances when the investigation can be discontinued, which are when:
						"(a) the coroner is satisfied that the cause of death has become clear in the course of the investigation,
"(aa) an inquest into the death has not yet begun."
	Subsections (4), (5) and (6) make consequential amendments to the Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953, the Merchant Shipping Act 1995 and the Coroners and Justice Act 2009. Provisions in those Acts refer to Section 4 of the Coroners and Justice Act 2009 which, prior to its amendment, allowed a coroner to discontinue an investigation if the cause of death is revealed by post-mortem examination. The consequential amendments reflect the new wording of Section 4 as set out in Section 39 of the Bill which allows a coroner to discontinue an investigation where the cause of death becomes clear.