Registration

Registration, the entry in a book of statements or memoranda as to certain facts which serve as memorials or evidence of those facts. Some registers are public, and others, such as the registers of shareholders, mortgages, etc., required to be kept by joint-stock companies, are private. The place or office where a public register is kept is called a registry, the act or system is called registration, and the officer who keeps the register is called the registrar. There is, as may be supposed, an almost infinite variety of subjects to which the system of registration is applicable; but perhaps the most important and popular one is that relating to births and deaths, which is now regulated by statute, but was formerly the subject of ecclesiastical cognisance only. (1) As to Births. Every registrar is authorised and required to inform himself carefully of every birth which shall happen in his district, and to learn and register, as soon after the event as possible, such particulars as are required by the schedule annexed to the Births and Deaths Registration Act, 1874, to be registered touching such birth; and it is the duty of the father and mother of any child born alive - or, in their default, of the occupier of the house (if he knows of the birth), and of each person present thereat, and of the person having charge of the child - within forty-two days after the day of such birth, to give to the proper registrar information concerning such birth, and in his presence to sign the register. Where a period of three months from the birth of the child has expired registration may still take place; but in this case a solemn declaration before the superintendent-registrar as to the truth of the particulars required must be made by one of the persons on whom the statute imposes the duty of giving information as to the birth, and he or she must sign thej register in the presence both of the superintendent-registrar and of the registrar of the district. But after the expiration of twelve months from the time of birth no registry thereof can be made except with the written authority of the registrar-general, and the fact of such authority having been given must be entered in the register. (2) As to Beatlis. A similar duty is cast upon the registrar of the district as above-mentioned with regard to deaths by the above-named Act, and it is the duty of the nearest relatives of the deceased present at the death or in attendance during the last illness - and, in default of such relatives, of any other relative in the same sub-district, and, in default of any such person present at the death, of the occupier of the house (if he knows of'such death having taken place), and, in his default, of each inmate of the house, and of the person causing the body to be buried - to give to the registrar information (within five days next following the day of death), according to the best of his knowledge and belief, of such particulars as are required to be registered touching the death; and, in the case of an inquest upon the body, such information is to be conveyed to the registrar by the coroner before whom such inquest is held. Four times in every year each district registrar is bound to deliver to his superintendent-registrar a certified copy of the entries therein, and finally the registry itself upon the book being filled; and at similar intervals the superintendent-registrar transmits the same to the registrar-general. The duties of the last-mentioned officer consist, in addition to the general supervision of the working of the whole system, in examining, arranging, and indexing the certified copies so sent. He has also to compile abstracts of their contents and send them once a year to a Principal Secretary of State, and they are afterwards laid before Parliament. The system was introduced in the year 1836.