Places of Worship Registration Act 1855
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1855 c. 81 |
(18 & 19 Vict.) C A P. LXXXI.
[30th July 1855]
'WHEREAS by an Act of the First Session of the First Year of KingWilliam and Queen Mary , Chapter Eighteen, and an Act of the Fifty-second Year of King George the Third, Chapter One hundred and fifty-five, Places of Meeting of Congregations or Assemblies for Religious Worship of Protestants (save as therein excepted with respect to Places of Worship of the Established Church and otherwise) were required to be certified to the Bishop's or Archdeacon's Court, or to the General or Quarter Sessions of the Peace, and to be registered in such Court, and recorded at such Sessions: And whereas by an Act of the Thirty-first Year of KingGeorge the Third, Chapter Thirty-two, every Place of Congregation or Assembly for Religious Worship of Persons professing the Roman Catholic Religion is required to be certified to and recorded at the General or Quarter Sessions of the Peace: And whereas by the Two following Acts respectively, that is to say, an Act of the Session holden in the Second and Third Years of KingWilliam the Fourth, ChapterOne hundred and fifteen, and an Act of the Session holden in the Ninth and Tenth Years of Her Majesty, Chapter Fifty-nine, Her Majesty's Subjectsprofessing the Roman Catholic Religion, and Her Majesty's Subjects professing the Jewish Religion, in respect of their Places for Religious Worship, are made subject to the same Laws as Protestant Dissenters: And whereas by an Actpassed in the Session holden in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Years of Her Majesty, Chapter Thirty-six, Places of Meeting of Congregations or Assemblies for Religious Worship of Protestant Dissenters are required to be certified to the Registrar General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages inEngland , and to be recorded in the General Register Office, in lieu of being certified to and registered and recorded in the Bishop's or Archdeacon's Court, and at the General or Quarter Sessions, as herein-before mentioned: And whereas it is expedient that all Places of Religious Worship, not being Churches or Chapels of the Established Church, should, if the Congregation should desire, but not otherwise, be certified to the said Registrar General:' 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:
I & 16 Vict. c. 36. repealed, but Places of Worship certified thereunder to have Force, &c.
I. The said Act of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Years of Her Majesty, Chapter Thirty-six, shall be repealed: Provided always, that the certifying thereunder before the passing of this Act of any Place of Meeting for Religious Worship shall, subject to the Provisions herein-after contained, have the same Force and Effect from the Time of such certifying as if the same had been duly certified, registered, and recorded as before the passing of the said Act of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Years of Her Majesty, Chapter Thirty-six, was required by Law, and such Act and this Act had not been passed.
II Places of Worship to be certified to Registrar General.
II. Every Place of Meeting for Religious Worship of Protestant Dissenters or other Protestants, and of Persons professing the Roman Catholic Religion, by the said Acts of KingWilliam and Queen Mary , the Thirty-first and Fifty-second Years of King George the Third, and the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Years of Her Majesty, Chapter Thirty-six, or any of them, required to be certified and registered or recorded, as therein mentioned, and not heretofore certified and registered or recorded in manner required by Law, and every Place of Meeting for Religious Worship of Persons professing the Jewish Religion, not heretofore certified and registered or recorded as aforesaid, and every Place of Meeting for Religious Worship of any other Body or Denomination of Persons, may be certified in Writing to the Registrar General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in England , through the Superintendent Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages of the District in which such Place may be situate; and such Certificate shall be in Duplicate, and upon Forms in accordance with Schedule A. to this Act, or to the like Effect, such Forms to be provided by the said Registrar General, and to be obtained (without Payment) upon Application to such Superintendent Registrar as aforesaid; and the said Superintendent Registrar shall, upon the Receipt of such Certificate in Duplicate, forthwith transmit the same to the said Registrar General, who, after having caused the Place of Meeting therein mentioned to be recorded as herein-after directed, shall return One of the said Certificates to the said Superintendent Registrar, to be re-delivered by him to the certifying Party, and shall keep the other Certificate with the Records of the General Register Office.
III Places of Meeting to be recorded.
III. The said Registrar General shall cause all Places of Meeting for Religious Worship certified to him under this Act to be recorded in a Book to be kept by him for that Purpose at the General Register Office, and no such Place of Meeting as aforesaid shall be certified to or registered in any Court of any Bishop or Archdeacon, or be certified to or recorded at any General or Quarter Sessions; and the certifying to the said Registrar General of any such Place of Meeting for Religious Worship of Protestant Dissenters or other Protestants or Roman Catholics, or Persons professing the Jewish Religion, and of an Place of Meeting for Religious Worship of any other Body or Denomination of Persons, shall, subject to the Provisions herein contained, have the same Force and Effect as if such Place had been duly certified and recorded or registered and recorded as before the passing of the said Act of the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Years of Her Majesty, Chapter Thirty-six, was required by Law, and such Act and this Act had not been passed.
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