An Act to amend the Act concerning Non-parochial Registers, and the Acts for Marriages, and for registering Births, Deaths, and Marriages, in England, and concerning Vaccination.
[14 June 1858]
21 Vict. c.25.
| 3 & 4 Vict. c.92 | WHEREAS by an Act passed in the Session of Parliament holden in the Third and Fourth Years of Her Majesty (Chapter Ninety-two), "for enabling Courts of Justice to admit Non-parochial Registers as Evidence of Births or Baptisms, Deaths or Burials, and Marriages," Provisions were made for the Deposit in the General Register Office of certain Non-parochial Registers, and for making the same receivable in Evidence, and other Provisions were thereby made in relation to such Registers: And whereas by Commission under the Great Seal, bearing Date the First Day of January in the Twentieth Year of the Reign of Her Majesty, certain Persons were appointed Commissioners to inquire into the State, Custody, and Authenticity of any Registers or Records of Births or Baptisms, Deaths or Burials, and Marriages lawfully solemnized, kept in England or Wales, other than the Parochial Registers, and the Copies thereof deposited, with the Diocesan Registrars, and which had not been inquired into and examined by certain former Commissioners, and also for inquiring whether any and what Measures could be beneficially adopted for collecting and arranging all or any of such Registers or Records, and for depositing the same, or Copies thereof, in the Office of the Registrar General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in England, or for otherwise preserving the same, and also for considering and advising the proper Measures to be adopted for giving full Force and Effect as Evidence in all Courts of Justice to all such Registers as were found accurate and faithful, and for facilitating the Production and Reception of the same: And whereas by the Report of the said Commissioners, bearing Date the Thirty-first Day of December One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, it appears that they have received Two hundred and ninety-two Non-parochial Registers or Records, and that of this Number Two hundred and sixty-five have after Examination, as in such Report mentioned, been judged by them to be accurate and faithful, and that a Certificate to that Effect, and signed by Three of the said Commissioners, has been affixed to each of such Two hundred and sixty-five Registers or Records; that there are certain Cases, however, where only some of the Entries have been found accurate and faithful, and that in these Cases the Certificate has been so framed as clearly to distinguish such Entries from the rest, and to confine the Sanction of the Commissioners to the unobjectionable Portion of the Registers: and a complete List of the Registers thus wholly or partially sanctioned by the said Commissioners is annexed to their Report in the Appendix (A.) thereto; and the said Commissioners have by their said Report recommended that a Bill be introduced into Parliament providing that the Registers or Records in the Custody of the said Commissioners, and certified in the Manner described (and hereinbefore mentioned), should be deposited in the General Register Office in the Custody of the Registrar General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in England, and should then be deemed to be in legal Custody and be receivable in Evidence in all Courts of Justice, subject as in the said Report mentioned: Be it therefore enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled and by the Authority of the same, as follows: |
| Certain registers to be deposited. | I. The. Registrar General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in England shall receive and deposit in the General Register Office all the Registers and Records of Births, Baptisms, Deaths, Burials, and Marriages now in the Custody, of the said Commissioners, and which they have by their said Report recommended to be deposited in the General Register Office in the Custody of the said Registrar General, and which are mentioned in Appendix (A.) to their said Report. |
| Certain other Registers may be deposited in the Office after Examination by Order of Secretary of State. | II. And whereas certain Non-parochial Registers and Records in addition to those mentioned in the said Report of the said Commissioners were sent to them before the Date of such Report, but too late to allow of such Registers or Records being examined and reported on by them, and other Non-parochial Registers or Records have been sent to them since the Date of their said Report: It shall be lawful for One of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State to appoint or authorize Three or more Persons to inquire into the State, Custody, and Authenticity of the Non-parochial Registers or Records of Births or Baptisms, Deaths or Burials, and Marriages, which have been sent to the said Commissioners as aforesaid, and have not been reported on by them, and such of the same Registers or Records as the Persons so' authorized shall find accurate and faithful, they or Three of them shall certify under their Hands as fit to be placed with the other Registers and Records hereby directed to be deposited in the General Register Office, and the Registrar General, upon receiving the Certificate of such Persons and an Order of One of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State for this Purpose, shall receive such Registers and Records and deposit them in the General Register Office. |
| Sections 5 to 19 of 3 & 4 Vict. c.92. to extend to the Registers deposited under this Act. | III. The Provisions of the said Act of the Third and Fourth Years of Her Majesty, from Section Five to Section Nineteen, both inclusive, and the Rules, Orders, and Regulations made under the said Act, shall extend and be applicable to the Registers or Records deposited in the General Register Office under this Act, in like Manner as the same are applicable to the Registers or Records deposited under the said Act of the Third and Fourth Years of Her Majesty. |
| Power to increase Salary of Register General, by to include all Duties under this Act. | IV. So much of the Act of the Session holden in the Sixth and Seventh Years of King William the Fourth, Chapter Eighty-six, as enacts that the Salary of the Registrar General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in England shall not at any Time exceed the Sum of One thousand Pounds yearly, shall be repealed; and it shall be lawful for the Commissioners of Her Majesty's treasury to appoint from Time to Time the Salary of the said Registrar General, so that the same shall not at any Time, exceed the Sum of Twelve hundred Pounds yearly; the Salary so to be appointed to be deemed to include the Remuneration for all Duties which under any Act or Acts of Parliament the said Registrar General is or may hereafter be appointed or required to perform. |
| Information of Particulars furnished by Coroner to be in Writing, and signed by him, and Entry in Register need not be signed by him. | V. And whereas by Section Twenty-five of the Act of the Session
holden in the Sixth and Seventh Years of King William the Fourth,
Chapter Eighty-six, it was provided, that in every Case in which an
Inquest should be held on any dead Body the Jury should inquire of
the Particulars therein required to be registered concerning the Death,
and the Coroner should inform the Registrar of the Finding of the
Jury, and the Registrar should make the Entry accordingly; and it
was by Section Twenty-eight of the same Act enacted, that every
Person by whom the Information contained in any Register of
Birth or Death under that Act should have been given should sign
his Name, Description, and Place of Abode in the Register, and no
Register of Birth or Death according to that Act should be given in
Evidence which should not be signed by some Person professing to
be the Informant, and to be such Party as was therein required to
give such Information to the Registrar: The Information to be furnished to any Registrar by a Coroner, under the Provisions herein-before recited shall be in Writing signed by the Coroner, which shall specify, in addition to the Particulars required as aforesaid, the Time and Place at which the Inquest was holden; and it shall not be necessary for the Coroner to sign his Name, Description, and Place of Abode in the Register, as required by Section Twenty-eight of the said Act; but the Registrar shall enter in the Column of the Register Book in which the Signature of the Informant of the Death is in other Cases required to be made a Memorandum as follows; "Information, received from [inserting the Name of the Coroner], Coroner for Inquest held [Date of Inquest];" and any Register of Death containing such Entry shall be receivable in Evidence in like Manner as if signed by the Coroner as required by the Enactment in that Behalf herein-before recited; and the written Information furnished as aforesaid by the Coroner shall be kept by the Registrar until the Delivery by him to the Superintendent Registrar as required by Law, of a certified Copy of the Entry of such Death, and shall be delivered together with such certified Copy to the Superintendent Registrar, and shall be by him sent with such certified Copy to the Registrar General, and shall be thereafter kept in the General Register Office. |
| So much of 6 & 7 Vict. cc. 85 and 86. and 7 W. 4. & 1 Vict. c.22. as provides that the Cost of the Register Books, &c. to be paid to the Registrar General repealed. | VI. So much of the Acts of the Session holden in the Sixth and Seventh Years of King William the Fourth, Chapters Eighty-five and Eighty-six, and of an Act of the Session holden in the Seventh Year of King William the Fourth and the First Year of Her Majesty, Chapter Twenty-two, as provides that the Cost of Register Books of Births and Deaths, Marriage Register Books, and Forms of certified Copies thereof respectively, and of Marriage Notice Books furnished by the said Registrar General, shall be paid by Guardians, or by Churchwardens and Overseers, or by the Registering Officer of the Society of Friends called Quakers, or the Secretary of any Synagogue of Persons professing the Jewish Religion, and also so much of the said Act of the Sixth and Seventh Years of King William the Fourth, Chapter Eighty-five, as enacts that the Cost of Forms of Certificates for Marriages furnished by the said Registrar General to any Superintendent Registrar shall be accounted for by such Superintendent Registrar to the said Registrar General, shall be repealed. |
| So much of 16 & 17 Vict. c.100 as enacts
that Vaccination Forms shall be furnished to Registrars, and delivered to them to
Medical Officers and Practitioners, repealed. Registrars to deliver Books, &c. to Medical Officers, &c without requiring Payment for the same. |
VII. And whereas by the Act of the Session holden in the Sixteenth
and Seventeenth Years of Her Majesty, Chapter One hundred, it was
enacted, that the said Registrar General should within Two Months
after the passing of that Act frame and provide such Books, Forms,
and Regulations as he might deem requisite for carrying into full
Effect the Provisions of that Act, and should transmit the same to
the Superintendent Registrars of each District in England and Wales,
who should deliver to the Medical Officers appointed as in the said
Act mentioned, and other duly qualified Medical Practitioners in the
said district, such of the said Books, Forms, and Regulations as
they might require for the Performance of the Duties imposed upon
them by that Act, and the Expenses to be incurred by the
Registrar General under the Provisions of that Act should be
defrayed in the same Manner as- the Expenses under the said Act
of the Sixth and Seventh Years of King William the Fourth,
Chapter Eighty-five: The said Enactment, except so much thereof as directs the Registrar General to frame and provide such Books, Forms, and Regulations as therein mentioned, shall be repealed; and the Registrar General shall transmit from Time to Time to the Registrar of Births and Deaths in every Sub-District such Books, Forms, and Regulations as may be requisite for the Use of the Medical Officers appointed as in the said Act mentioned, and other duly qualified Medical Practitioners in the Sub-District; and every such Registrar shall deliver to such Medical Officers and Practitioners respectively, without requiring Payment for the same, such of the said Books, Forms, and Regulations as they may require for the Performance of the Duties imposed upon them by that Act. |