registrar of diocese. tion, be transmitted by such churchwardens or chapelwardens, after they, or one of them, shall have signed the same, by the post, to the registrars of each diocese in England within which the church or chapel shall be situated, on or before the 1st day of June, 1814, and on or before the 1st day of June in every subsequent year." Sect. 8 enjoins registrars to report to bishops whether copies of the registers had been sent in. Officiating Sect. 9. In case the rector, vicar, or other officiating minister negminister or curate of any parish or chapelry shall neglect lecting to verify copies of or refuse to verify and sign such copies of such several register books, register books, and such declaration as aforesaid, so that churchwardens the churchwardens or chapelwardens shall not be able to to certify default. transmit the same, as required by this act, such churchwardens or chapel wardens shall, within the time required by this act for the transmission thereof, certify such default to the registrar of the diocese within which such parish or chapelry shall be, who shall specially state the same in his report to the bishop of such diocese." Places where memorandum of baptisms, &c. delivered to officiating minister of adjoining parish. Sect. 10. "In all cases of the baptism of any child, or no church, &c. the burial of any person in any extra-parochial place in England, according to the rites of the established church, where there is no church or chapel, it shall be lawful for the officiating minister, within one month after such baptism or burial, to deliver to the rector, vicar, or curate of such parish immediately adjoining to the place in which such baptism or burial shall take place, as the ordinary shall direct, a memorandum of such baptism or burial, signed by such parent of the child baptized, or a memorandum of such burial, signed by the person employed about the same, together with two of the persons attending the same, according as the nature of the case may respectively require; and every such memorandum respectively shall contain all such particulars as are hereinbefore required; and every such memorandum delivered to the rector, vicar, or curate of any such adjoining parish or chapelry, shall be entered in the register of his parish, and form a part thereof." Letters free of postage. Sect. 11 provides that letters, &c., containing annual copies of register books addressed in the form given in schedule E., shall go free of postage. This schedule is thus : To the Registrar of the diocese of at [or such other A. B. Churchwardens [or "chapelwardens"] of the books when transmitted to Sect. 12. "When and so often as the copies of the said Annual copies register books of baptisms, . . . . and burials as afore- of register said, and also the said lists of births, baptisms, or burials as aforesaid, shall be transmitted to the office registrars, kept of the said registrars respectively, as aforesaid, pursuant from damage. to the directions hereinbefore contained for that purpose, the said registrars shall respectively cause all the said books and lists to be safely and securely deposited, kept and preserved from damage or destruction by fire or otherwise, and to be carefully arranged for the purpose of being resorted to as occasion may require; and the said Alphabetical registrars respectively shall also cause correct alphabe- lists. tical lists to be made and kept in books suitable to the purpose, of the names of all persons and places mentioned in such books and lists as shall have been transmitted to the said registrars respectively, which alphabetical lists and books, and also the copies of registers and lists so transmitted to the said registrars as aforesaid, shall be open to public search at all reasonable times on payment of the usual fees." By sect. 13, the bishop and certain other persons were to report to the privy council on or before 1st March, 1813, respecting proper places for preservation of copies of register books, as well as original wills in each diocese ; and for remuneration of registrars' officers. Sect. 14 provided for the punishment of persons forging or altering entries in the register. This section has been since repealed, and the present law is contained in 24 & 25 Vict. c. 98, s. 36, and is as follows: "Whosoever shall unlawfully destroy, deface, or injure, Punishment or cause or permit to be destroyed, defaced or injured, any for destroying, register of births, baptisms, marriages, deaths, or burials forging or altering rewhich now is or hereafter shall be by law authorized or gister, or for required to be kept in England or Ireland, or any part of making false any such register, or any certified copy of any such re-entry therein, or giving false gister, or any part thereof, or shall forge or fraudulently certificates, &c. alter in any such register any entry relating to any birth, baptism, marriage, death, or burial, or any part of any such register, or any certified copy of such register, or of any part thereof, or shall knowingly and unlawfully insert or cause or permit to be inserted in any such register, or in any certified copy thereof, any false entry of any matter relating to any birth, baptism, marriage, death, or burial, or shall knowingly and unlawfully give any false certificate relating to any birth, baptism, marriage, death, or burial, or shall certify any writing to be a copy or extract from any such register, knowing such writing, or the part of such register whereof such copy or extract shall be so Persons committing accidental errors not affected, if duly corrected according to truth of case. Fees heretofore payable. Proviso for. Application of penalties. given, to be false in any material particular, or shall forge or counterfeit the seal of or belonging to any register office or burial board, or shall offer, utter, dispose of, or put off any such register, entry, certified copy, certificate, or seal, knowing the same to be false, forged or altered, or shall offer, utter, dispose of, or put off any copy of any entry in any such register, knowing such entry to be false, forged or altered, shall be guilty of felony, and being convicted thereof shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be kept in penal servitude for life or for any term not less than three years, or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years, with or without hard labour, and with or without solitary confinement." 52 Geo. 3, c. 146, proceeds to enact as follows: Sect. 15. "Provided always, that no rector, vicar, curate or officiating minister of any parish or chapel, who shall discover any error to have been committed in the form or substance of the entry in the register book of any such baptism or burial . . . respectively by him solemnized, shall be liable to all or any of the penalties herein mentioned, if he shall within one calendar month after the discovery of such error, in the presence of the parent or parents of the child whose baptism may have been entered in such register, or in the presence of two persons who shall have attended at any burial, or in case of the death or absence of the respective parties aforesaid, then in the presence of the churchwardens or chapelwardens, (who shall respectively attest the same,) alter and correct the entry which shall have been found erroneous, according to the truth of the case, by entry in the margin of the book wherein such erroneous entry shall have been made without any alteration or obliteration of the original entry, and shall sign such entry in the margin, and add to such signature the day of the month and year when such correction shall be made: provided also, that in the fair copy of the registers respectively which shall be transmitted to the registrars of the dioceses, the said rector, vicar, curate, or officiating minister, shall certify the alterations so made by him as aforesaid." Sect. 16. "Nothing in this act contained shall in any manner diminish or increase the fees heretofore payable or of right due to any minister for the performance of any of the before-mentioned duties, or to any minister or registrar, for giving copies of such registrations, but that all due, legal and accustomed fees on such occasions, and all powers and remedies for recovery thereof, shall be and remain as though this act had not been made." Sect. 18. "One half of the amount of all fines or penal ties to be levied in pursuance of this act shall go to the person who shall inform or sue for the same; and the remainder of such fines as shall be imposed on any churchwarden or chapelwarden shall go to the poor of the parish or place for which such churchwarden or chapelwarden shall serve; and the remainder of such fines as shall be imposed on any rector, vicar, minister or curate, or registrar, shall be paid and applied to such charitable purposes, in the county within which the parish or place shall be, as shall be appointed and directed by the bishop of the diocese." By sect. 19, a list of extant register books was to be transmitted to the registrar of the diocese before 1st June, 1813. Sect. 20. "All and every the provisions in this act Act to extend shall extend, so far as circumstances will permit, to cathe- to churches dral and collegiate churches, and chapels of colleges or not parochial. and chapels hospitals, and the burying grounds belonging thereto : and to the ministers who shall officiate in such cathedral or collegiate churches, and chapels of colleges or hospitals, and burying grounds respectively, and shall baptize, or bury any person or persons, although such cathedral or collegiate churches or chapels of colleges or hospitals, or the burying grounds belonging thereto, may not be parochial, or the ministers officiating therein may not be, as such, parochial ministers, and there shall be no churchwarden or churchwardens thereof; and in all such cases, the books hereinbefore directed to be provided, shall be provided at the expense of the body having right to appoint the officiating minister in every such cathedral or collegiate church or chapel of a college or hospital; and copies thereof shall be transmitted to the registrar of the diocese within which such cathedral or collegiate church or chapel of a college or hospital shall be, by the officiating minister of such church, in like manner as is herein directed with respect to parochial ministers, and shall be attested by two of the officers of such church, college or hospital, as the copies of parochial registers are herein directed to be attested by churchwardens." books. In the case of Dormer v. Ekyns an information was Parish registers moved for in the Court of King's Bench against Mr. are public Ekyns, rector of the parish church of Walton, and against Mr. Bonner, curate of the same church, for refusing to give Mr. Dormer copies of certain parts of a register belonging to that parish, and likewise for refusing to give him a certificate of certain persons of the family of the Dormers being born in that parish. He said, that an P. VOL. I. UU How far evidence. ejectment was depending in this court at the time this refusal was made, and still continued to be so, between Mr. Dormer and Mr. Parkerson and his wife, concerning certain lands which the plaintiff claimed as heir male of the Dormer family. Several of that family were born in the parish of Walton; and for this reason it was necessary to have copies of several parts of the register, and likewise a certificate of the birth of many in that family. Accordingly Mr. Dormer made his application to the rector and curate of that parish for this purpose, and offered to pay them for the same; but they refused letting him have them; and the only reason they gave was, that Mr. Parkerson and his wife were the defendants, and they would do nothing to their prejudice. Of this fact he said he had an affidavit; and for such an extraordinary denial of justice he hoped the court would grant an information. The court said, you have a right to inspect the public books of the parish; but cannot oblige the rector or curate to make you out either copies of those books, or a certificate; for which reason they could not grant the motion. Upon this he changed his motion, and desired a rule to inspect those books. The court said, motions to inspect the public books of corporations, they grant without an affidavit; but in motions to inspect the public books of a parish, an affidavit is always requisite. By such affidavit, they said, too, it must be sworn, that the copies of them are necessary to be produced in evidence at a trial of a cause depending, and likewise that the inspection of those books to take copies has been demanded and refused. Now in the present case, the first part was sworn to, but not the latter; for which reason the court refused to make any rule at present (d). An entry in the register of the christening of a child, as to the time of its birth, is not of itself sufficient evidence of the age (e). If a parish register of baptisms state that the person baptized was born on a particular day, that is not evidence of the date of his birth (f). A register of baptism is not per se evidence of the place of birth of the party baptized (g); nor is a certificate of marriage evidence unless it be shown as a copy of the parish register. where, in an action to recover damages for criminal conversation with the plaintiff's wife, the proof of the marriage was an examined copy of the marriage register, and the But (g) Rex v. North Petherton, 5 B. & C. 508; 8 D. & R. 325. |