17.—F36[(1)] Subject to the provisions of this Act, where a coroner is informed that the body of a deceased person is lying within his district, it shall be the duty of the coroner to hold an inquest in relation to the death of that person if he is of opinion that the death may have occurred in a violent or unnatural manner, or F37[unexpectedly and from unknown causes] or in a place or in circumstances which, under provisions in that behalf contained in any other enactment, require that an inquest should be held.

F36[(2) Without prejudice to the generality of subsection (1), it shall be the duty of a coroner to hold an inquest in relation to the death of a person in the following cases:

(a) the deceased person was, at the time of his or her death or immediately before his or her death, in State custody or detention;

(b) the death of the person is a maternal death or a late maternal death.]