The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-23 00:00:00

BILL FOR THE REGISTRATION
OF BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, AND DEATHS
IN SCOTLAND.
The following is the Registration Bill for Scotland,
which has been introduced by the Lord Advocate :
Clause 1 and 2 propose to enact, that after the pass-
ing of the Act, an office is to be provided in Edinburgh,
to be called " The General Registry Office of Births,
Deaths, and Marriages," for keeping a register of all
births, deaths, and marriages in Scotland, and the Queen
to appoint for the said office a R eeistrar-General of
births, deaths, and marriages, in Scotland, removeable at
pleasure ; and that the Registrar-General may appoint
an assistant ; but who shall not have power to make,
alter, or rescind any rules or regulations, or to dismiss
any person from any office holden during the pleasure of
the Registrar-General.
3. The Lsrds of the Treasury to appoint officers,
clerks, &c., and to fix the salaries ; but the salary of
the Registrar-General not at any time to exceed the
sum of 800 L yearly.
4. That the salary of the Registrar-General, of the
Superintendent-Registrar, and all the expenses of the
General Registry Office, including clerks, officers, ser
' vents books, and stationery be paid out of the Consoli-
dated Fund.
5 and 6. The regulations for management of office
and duties of officers to be framed by the Secretary of
State, and submitted to Parliament ; and an Abstract
of Registers to be laid annually before Parliament.
7. Every county in Scotland, and the towns of Edin-
burgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee, Paisley, Leith,
Greenock, Perth, and Dumfries, severally shall form a
district, to be under the superintendence of a Superin-
tendent Registrar, the boundaries of each burgh to be
those of the Reform Act ; but that no county shall in-
clude any burgh or town forming a separate district for
the purposes of this Act.
8 and 9. The Sheriff-Clerks of each county, and the
burgh Clerks and Town-Clerks of burghs and towns re-
spectively, to be the Superintendent Registrars of their
dirtricts; and deputy superintendant-Registrar may be
appointed by Superintendent.
10. The districts to be divided into sub-districts, con-
sisting of parishes, or, where it shall be deemed neces •
airy for convenience, into parts of parishes, in which
last case each parochial board, acting under the Poor-law
shall, on or before the Ist of August, 1847, divide the
parishes into as many sub-districts as shall be necessary,
which shall each be distinguished by a name or number,
and shall be a Registrar's district; and each parochial
board shall, on or before the Ist of September, 1847, ap-
point, in each sub-district a Registrar for the registra-
tion of all births, deaths, and marriages which shall take
_ _

titulars hereby required to be registered touching the
death of such person; but in every case in which a pre-
cognition touching the death of a person shall be held,
the Procurator-Fiscal shall inform the Registrar-General
of the result of such precognition; and the Registrar
shall, without requiring the Procurator-Fiscal to sign
the same, make the entry according, stating the Procu-
rator Fiscal as his informant.
31. If any of her Majesty's Scottish subjects shall die
at sea on board of a British vessel, after the said last day
of December, the captain of the vessel shall make inti-
mation in the same way as provided for in the case of
hirths; and the Registrar shall insert a correct copy
thereof in the " Marine Register," verified by his own
signature.
32, 33. Every Registrar immediately upon registering
any death, or as soon thereafter as he shall be required
so to do, shall, without fee or reward deliver to the in •
formant, for the use of the undertaker or other person
having charge of the funeral, a certificate that such death
has been duly registered; and such certificate shall be
delivered to the person having the charge of the place of
interment; and if any dead body shall be buried, for
which no such certificate shall have been so delivered,
the undertaker or other person having charge of the
funeral, and the person having charge of the place of in-
terment, shall within forty-eight hours thereafter give
notice thereof to the Registrar of the sub-district in
which such death shall have happened, under a penalty
of 101., the information given to the Registrar to be
signed by the informant.
34. Every Registrar shall make out an account, twice
in every year, of the number of births and deaths which
he shall have registered since the last half-yearly ac-
count, and the Superintendent-Register shall verify
and sign the same ; and the Parochial Board, on pro-
duction of such account, shall pay to the Registrar for
the first twenty entries of births and deaths in every
year which he shall have registered, two shillings and
sixpence each, and one shilling for every subsequent
entry of births and of deaths in each year ; and in the
event of such fees being inadequate to his remuneration,
such further sum as the Parochial Board shall think fit.
35. In all cases of marriage contracted in Scotland
from and after the last day of December, 1847, the
persons contracting such marrage, at the time of the
contraction thereof, or within two months thereafter,
shall sign, along with two witnesses, in the presence of
the Registrar, the entry of such marriage in the re-
gister-book to be kept by the Registrar•, and if this be
done within ten days, the Registrar shall for such entry
be entitled to a fee of five shillings ; if after ten days
and within two months, the Registrar shall be entitled
to a fee of ten shillings ; or it shall be competent to the
persons contracting marriage to require the Registrar of
the sub-district to attend at the contraction, or within
two months thereafter, at any place within such sub-
district, and such Registrar is required, upon a written
notice of forty-eight hours given to him to that effect.
to attend with the register book accordingly, and to
make the proper entry therein ; and for such attend-
ance and entry, if at the contraction or within ten days
of the contraction of such marriage, the Registrar shall
be entitled to a fee of one guinea, besides the sum of
sixpence for each mile which he shall be obliged to
travel in going from his place of abode to the place of
such marriage ; and if such attendance shall be required
after ten days but within two months of the contraction
of such marriage, the Registrar shall for such attend-
ance and entry be entitled to a fee of two guineas be-
sides the sum of sixpence for each mile ; and any per-
sons contracting marriage and failing to register the
same, and sign the entry thereof in manner herein de-
scribed during the period of two months thereafter, shall
be liable to a penalty of fifty pounds, and in default of
payment to suffer imprisonment for one month.
36. I❑ case of either or both of the married parties
dying within the ten days or two months, the marriage
unregistered, it shall be competent to the survivor, or
for any near relative of either of the parties, to obtain
registration of the marriage, they, along with two
other witnesses who have been present at the marriage,
signing the register, which must also state, in the entry,
the death of the person who may have contracted the
marriage.
37, 38, 39, 40. Marriages may be registered after
two months by the Registrar. Clergyman or person
present at solemnisation, celebration, or contraction of
marriage, to send nctice to Registrar within ten days,
under a penalty of 2/, Certified copies of register
books to be sent half-yearly to the Superintendent-Re-
gistrar, under a penalty of 10/. Superintendent-
Registrar to transmit registers half-yearly to Registrar-
General.
41. Every Registrar and Deputy-Registrar who shall
have the keeping for the time being of any register-book
of births, deaths, or marriages, shall at all reasonable
times allow searches to be made of all register-book in
his keeping, and shall, if required, give a copy, certi-
fied under his hand, of any entry or entries in the same,
on payment of a fee fer every search extending over
a period not more than one year the sum of one shil-
ling, and sixpence additional for every additional year;
and for certificate the sum of two shillings and six-
pence for every entry contained in such certificate.
47. Every Superintendent-Registrar shall forthwith
cause indexes of the register-books in his office to be
made and kept with the other records of his office ; and
every person shall be entitled at all reasonable hours to
search the said indexes, and to have a certified copy of
any entry or entries in the said register-books, under
the hand of the Superintendent-Registrar, on payment
of the fees ; for every general search the sum of five
shillings, and for every particular search the sum of one
shilling, and for every such certified copy, the sum of
two shillings and sixpence.
43. Indexes to be kept at General Register Office,
where they may be searched, on payment of the follow-
ing fees : —For every general search the sum of twenty
shillings ; for every particular search the sum of one
shilling ; and for every certified copy the sum of two
shillings and sixpence.
44. Seal to be kept at the General Register Office,
and all certified copies of entries sealed or stamped
therewith to be admissible throughout the United King-
dom and other of her Majesty's dominions, in evidence
of birth, death, or marriage, to which the same
relates

place within the parish or sub-district, and such Regis-
trar shall be a person possessing such qualification as the
Registrar-General shall, by any regulation to be made
by him, require and prescribe.
11. Deputy-Registrars may be appointed by the Re-
gistrar.
12. Provided always, and be it enacted, that it shall
not he lawful to app3int any Parish Schoolmaster to
tha office of Registrar or Deputy-Registrar under this
Act.

13. Every Superintendent-Registrar, Registrar, and
Deputy-Registrar, to hold his office during the pleasure
of the Registrar. General ; but on any such officer being
dismissed, notice of such must be published in some
newspaper circulated in the district ; but no Superin-
tendent-Registrar shall be so removed without the appro-
bation of one of her Majesty's Secretaries of State.
14 to 19. Appoints the offices of the Sheriff-Clerks,
Burgh Clerks, or Town Clerks, to be the register offices
of the Superintendent-Registrars for the purposes of
the Act. Registrars and Deputy-Registrars to dwell in
sub-district ; and names of Registrars and Deputy-
Registrars to be affixed on churcb doors two Sundays at
certain periods.
20. Every Registrar to inform himself carefully of
every birth and every death which shall happen within
his sub-district from and after the last day of Decem-
ber, 1847, and to learn and register, as soon after the
event as conveniently may be done, without fee or re-
ward, in one of the register books, the particulars re-
quired to be registered according to the forms in the
schedules annexed, touching every such birth or every
such death.
21. And be it enacted, that the parents or parent of
every child born, and the occupier of any house or tene-
ment in Scotland in which any bi-th shall take place,
and the medical attendant and midwife present at such
birth, from and after the last day of December, 1847,
shall, within eight de) s next after the day of birth, give,
or cause to be given, notice of such birth to the Regis-
trar of the sub-district in which the birth occurred, uner
a penalty, to be paid in case of failure by the parents, or
either of them, of forty shillings, and by such occupier,
medical attendant, or midwife, of twenty shillings
but such penalty shall not be held to have been incurred
or ba recoverable, if such notice shall be given by any
one of such persons.
22. In case any person shall find any new-born child,
or the dead body of any child exposed, such person shall,
under a penalty of forty shillings in case of failure,
forthwith give notice of the finding of such new-born
child to the Inspector of the Poor, acting for the time
under the said last recited Act, or of the finding of such
dead body to the Procurator-Fiscal of the county.
23. The parents of every legitimate child and the
mother of every legitimate child born in Scotland, from
and after the last day of December, or in the case of the
death, illness, absence, or inability of the said parents
the occupier of the house or tenement in which such
child shall have been born, or the medical attendant and
midwife present at such birth, or other person being en
inmate of such house or tenement, and having know-
ledge of the particulars, shall, upon being required
personally, or by written requisition, within three
months after the date of such birth, to do so, and under
a penalty of five pounds in case of failure, give informa-
tion to the Registrar, according to the best of his or her
knowledge and belief, of the several particulars hereby
required to be known and registered touching the birth
of such child, and shall then and there sign the register
in the presence of the Registrar accordingly; provided
always, that in the case of any illegitimate child, it shall
not be lawful for the Registrar to enter the name of any
person as the father of such child.
24. If any child of a Scottish parent shall be born at
sea on board of a British vessel, after the said last day
of December, the captain of such vessel shall forthwith
make a minute of the several particulars required to be
inserted in the register, and shall, on the arrival of
such vessel in any port of the United Kingdom, or by
any other earlier opportunity, send a certified copy of
such minute through the Post-effice to the Registrar-
General, who shall file the same, and shall cause a
true and correct copy thereof, verified by his own sig-
nature, to be entered in a book to be kept for that pur-
pose in the General Registry-office, to be called " The
Marine Register."
25. After the expiration of three Months following
the day of the birth of any child, it shall not be lawful
for any Registrar to register such birth, save as after-
wards provided—that is, it shall be lawful for either of
the parents of any legitimate child and the mother of
any illegitimate child, or for the lawful guardians of
such legitimate or illegitimate child, at any time within
six months next after the birth, to make a declaration
in writing before the Superintendent-Registrar of the
particulars required to be registered touching the birth
of such child, according to the best of his or her know-
ledge and belief ; and it shall thereupon, with the au-
thority of the Superintendent-Registrar, be lawful for
the Registrar to register the birth of such child, ac-
cording to the information of the person making the
said declaration ; and for every such registry the Super-
intendant-Registrar shall be entitled to demand a fee of
two shillings and sixpence from the person requiring the
birth to be registered ; and the Registrar, over and
above the fee hereinafter allowed in respect of every
birth registered by him, shall be entitled, unless the de-
lay shall have been occasioned by his default, to have a
fee of five shillings from the person requiring the same
to be registered ; and every person who shall know-
ingly register or cause to be registered the birth of any
child otherwise than herein, after the expiration of three
months following the birth, shall forfeit a sum not ex-
ceeding fifty pounds.
26. No register of births, except in the case of
children born at sea, shall be admissible in evidence to
prove the birth of any child, wherein it shall appear
that six months has intervened between the day of the
birth, and the day of the registration of the birth of
such child ; and every person who shall knowingly re-
gister the birth of any child, after the expiration of six
months, shall be liable to a penalty of 501.
27. If any child born in Scotland, whose birth shall
have been registered according to the Act, shall, within
six months after having been registered, have any name
given to it in baptism, or shall have the name by which it
may have been registered altered in baptism, the parent
or guardian of such child, or other person procuring such
name to be given, may procure and deliver to the Regis-
trar or Superintendent-Registrar in whose custody the
register of the birth of the child may then happen to be,
a certificate according to the form annexed, or to the
like effect, signed by the minister or clergyman who
shall have performed the rite of baptism, which certifi-
cate such minister or clergyman is hereby required to
deliver immediately after the baptism, or whenever the
same shall be demanded, within six months ; and the
said Registrar or Superintendent-Registrar, upon receipt
of such certificate, and on payment of the fee of one
shilling, to which he shall be therefore entitled, shall,
without any erasure of the original entry, forthwith re-
gister the name by which the child was baptised. and no-
tify the same to the Registrar-General.
28. In the case of children of parents not recognising
the sacrament of baptism or infant baptism, the parents
oF_ gnardians, within six months after the birth of the
c
_badshall have been registered, when any name shall
have been given to the child according to the rites or
e p
usage of the sect to which the parents belong, to deliver
to the Regiwstraerreaod
certificatean signed by suceparents or
guardians,
whereupon,
Withoutshall, erasure as afore-
said, register the name of thecindn
29. The medical attendant or other person present at
the death, or in attendance during e last
illness and
until the death, of every person dying in Scotland from
end after the said last day of December, and the occu-
pier of the house or tenement, and it the occupier be the
person who shall have died, the inmates of the bourn or
tenement in which such death
of forty shill' shallh
ow, 3,
ap
shall, under a penaltyings, withinpened,
forty
-
eight hours next after give or
the day of such death,
cause to be given notice of such. death to the Registrar
of the sub-district in which such death shall have hap.
Felled ; but such penalty shall not be held to have been
incurred if such notice ;shall have been given by any one
of such persons.
30. The medical attendant or other person present at
the death or in attendance during the last illness and.un-
til the death, and also the near relatives of every person
dying in Scotland after the last day of December, or the
occupiers of the houses or tenement in which such death
shall have taken place, shall within fourteen days, under
a penalty of five poNds in case of failure, give informa-
tion upon being required, to the registrar, according to
the best of his knowledge and belief, of the several par-

45. Every sum received by the Registrar-General to
be accounted for and paid into the Bank of England, to
the credit of her Majesty's Exchequer, or to be applied
by order of the Lords Commissioners in discharge of the
expenses of the said Gene;al Register Office in
Edinburgh.
_ _

46, 47, 43. Penalty for giving false information—
Transportation for a period not exceeding seven years,
or imprisonment for a term not exceeding two years.
Every Registrar who shall refuse, or without reasonable
cause, omit to register any birth. death, or marriage.
and every person having the custody of any register-
book who shall carelessly lose or injure the same, shall
forfeit a sum not exceeding 501. for every such offence.
Penalty for destroying cr falsifying register-books, or
certifying any writing to be a copy or extract of any
register-hook, knowing the same to be false, &c.—
Transportation for a period not exceeding seven years,
or imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years.
49, 50. If any error shall be discovered to have been
committed in any entry in any of the register-books,
the Registrar-General is to examine regarding it on
oath, and if he shall be satisfied that any error s been
committed, he shall cause a rectified entry to be made
in a separate register-book, to be called " The Register
of Corrected Entries ;" and he shall also make an entry
upon the margin of the original entry of such birth,
death, or marriage (but which original entry shall re-
main unaltered), distinctly referring by volume, and
page, and date, to the entry made in the register of
corrected entries. Errors in the entry may be corrected
before signing.
51. All penalties and forfeitures imposed by the Aet
shall be recoverable before the Sheriff of the county in
which such penalty shall have been incurred ; and the
penalties and forfeitures, if sued for by the Registrar-
General, shall go to the Registrar-General, and if sued
for by any other party, shall go, the one moiety to the
Registrar-General, and the other moiety to the party
suing ; and the decision of the Sheriff in all such cases
shall be final and conclusive, and not subject to review
in any court or by any process whatever.

52. The prosecution for every offence punishable
upon summary conviction by virtue of the Act, shall be
commenced within three months after the commission
of the offence, or after cause of action shall have oc-
curred.

53. Correspondence of Registrar-General relating to
the Act to pass through the Post-office.
54. Provided always, that nothing herein contained
shall affect the registration of baptism, burials, or mar-
riages, as now by law established, or the right of any
Kirk-session or their clerk to receive the fees now
usually paid for the registration of any baptism, burial,
marriage, or proclamation of banns.

55, 56. Acts requiring to be done under this Act, to
be published on church doors, and notices to officers may
be sent by post.
57. Interpretation clause. The word " oath" shall
include affirmation in the case of Quakers, or other de-
claration or solemnity legally substituted for an oath in
the case of persons exempted by law from taking an oath.
The word " Sheriff" to include the Sheriff Substitute.

The " occupier" shall include the master, keeper, or su-
perintendent of every jail, prison, or house of correction,
workhouse, hospital, lunatic asylum, or public or charit-
able institution.

58. Act to extend only to Scotland.
59. Act may be repealed or amended in the present

session.

AWFUL VISITATION.—Mr. Baker held an inquest
on Saturday at the Cumberland Head, City-road, on the
body of Thomas Small, aged 67, a miller, lately employed by
Messrs. De la Rue, of Bunhill-row. The evidence proved
that on Friday night lag, between eleven and twelve o'clock,
the night watchman, while patrolling the premises, dis-
covered the deceased lying on his face in the colour-mill,
quite insensible. An alarm was raised, and Mr. Smith, a sur-
geon, was called in, and he pronounced deceased to have
bean dead several hours. The widow stated that at five
o'clock on Friday evening he came home to his tea, and that
when he left to return to his employment he appeared per-
fectly well. Verdict, " Found dead."'

We understand the labouring poor in the Weald
are suffering great privations. The whole of their wages is
absorbed in the purchase of flour, and they have very little
indeed of any other kind of food whatever. Many of the
men with families go to work in the morning without tasting
even a bit of bread, and return at night to partake of a
scanty meal; and yet we have been told for years that, as
the price of food advanced, wages advanced in the same
proportion. Let any one go into the rural districts, and hs
will easily ascertain that it is not so. As the wages of the
millions is now expended almost entirely for food—for the
barest necessaries of life—trade is in a wretched state. The
nn
ee ivgehr b oknnrehwo o cl
the b e
tt
itmer e twh ne n anytke
general dealers, who always know the state of their own
ovin-eorkeilnseig setalatsseest hlaatbetuhreeyd
under such privations as at present ; that in war time, when
there was plenty of paper money afloat, and , consequently,
abundance of employment, it was not
half so bad ; yet, if
things go on in Ireland next year as they have gone on the
last and current year, we fear it will be
vrorae.—Brightan.
Herald.

THE SUN, LONDON, TIIESDA Y EVENING, MARCH 23, 1347