inquest

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun An investigation conducted by a coroner, sometimes with the aid of a jury, into the cause of death of a person when the cause may be criminal.
• noun A hearing conducted by a judge or magistrate to determine damages when a defendant has defaulted.
• noun A judicial inquiry into a specified matter, such as a person's mental condition.
• noun An investigation or inquiry.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun Inquiry; search; quest.
• noun In law: A judicial inquiry, especially an inquiry held before a jury; specifically, a proceeding before a jury to determine the amount to be recovered in an action, when there is no trial in the ordinary sense, because the right to recover has been admitted; in common use, a coroner's inquest.
• noun The jury itself.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun rare Inquiry; quest; search.
• noun Judicial inquiry; official examination, esp. before a jury.
• noun A body of men assembled under authority of law to inquire into any matter, civil or criminal, particularly any case of violent or sudden death; a jury, particularly a coroner's jury. The grand jury is sometimes called the grand inquest. See under Grand.
• noun The finding of the jury upon such inquiry.
• noun an inquest held by a coroner to determine the cause of any violent, sudden, or mysterious death. See Coroner.
• noun an inquiry made, by authority or direction of proper officer, into matters affecting the rights and interests of the crown or of the state.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

• noun A formal investigation, often held before a jury, especially one into the cause of a death.
• noun The jury hearing such an inquiry, and the result of the inquiry.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun an inquiry into the cause of an unexpected death