Registration of Births, Deaths and Marriages (Scotland) Act 1854
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1854 c. 80 |
| Year | 1854 |
(17 & 18 Vict.) C A P. LXXX.
[7th August 1854]
'WHEREAS it is expedient that a complete and uniform System of Registration of Births, Deaths, and Marriages should be established and maintained inScotland: ' Be it 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 Present System of Registration to cease on 31st December 1854, and this Act to come into operation.
I. From and after the Thirty-first Day ofDecember One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, the present System of Registration of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in Scotland shall cease and determine, in so far as regards Births, Deaths, and Marriages taking place after the said Thirty-first Day of December , and this Act shall come into operation: Provided always, that it shall be competent for any Person to register, on or before the Thirty-first Day of December One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the Registers kept and in use before the passing of this Act, any Birth, Death, or Marriage which shall have taken place on or before the Thirty-first Day of December One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the same Manner as if this Act had not been passed: Provided also, that all existing Registers of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, including all such Entries as may be made as aforesaid, and all Extracts and Certificates from such Registers, shall be and remain of the same legal Force and Effect in all respects as if this Act had not been passed.
II Her Majesty may provide an Office, and appoint a Registrar General.
II. On and after the passing of this Act it shall be lawful for Her Majesty to provide a proper Office in the General Register House atEdinburgh , to be called ‘The General Registry Office of Births, Deaths, and Marriages,’ in which shall be kept and preserved a Register of all Births, Deaths, and Marriages in Scotland , and to appoint, under the Seal appointed to be used in Scotland in place of the Great Seal thereof, the Person for the Time being holding the Office of the Deputy of the Lord Clerk Register of Scotland to be Registrar General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages in Scotland; and such Registrar General shall be paid, in addition to whatever Salary he may enjoy as Deputy Clerk Register, a Salary not exceeding Four hundred Pounds per Annum .
III The Registrar General may appoint a Secretary.
III. It shall be lawful for the Registrar General, with the Approbation of the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury of the United Kingdom ofGreat Britain and Ireland for the Time being, to appoint a Secretary, who may act in his Absence with all the Powers and in the Discharge of all the Duties hereby given to or imposed upon the Registrar General; and such Secretary shall be paid a Salary not exceeding Three hundred Pounds per Annum .
IV Appointment of Clerks and other Officers.
IV. It shall be lawful for the Registrar General, with the Approbation of the said Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, to appoint such Clerks, Officers, and Servants as shall be deemed necessary to carry on the Business of the General Registry Office, and at pleasure, with the like Approbation, to remove them or any of them, and, with the like Approbation, to fix the Salaries of such Clerks, Officers, and Servants, according to the Duties and Services which they may have respectively to perform.
V Expenses of Registry Office and Books, &c., how to be provided.
V. The Salary of the Registrar General and Secretary, and all the Expenses of the General Registry Office, including the Expenses of Clerks, Officers, and Servants, and of Books and Stationery, and of making and copying Indexes and Inventories, and in relation to Sessional Registers or private Burial Registers, and all Expenses incurred from Time to Time in the Publication and Transmission of Notices in pursuance of this Act, or otherwise, under the Directions and by the Authority of the Registrar General, or of the Sheriff, and all other Expenses connected with the Business of the said Office not herein otherwise provided for, shall be paid by the said Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury out of any Monies to be hereafter voted by Parliament for that Purpose.
VI Regulations for Management of Office and Duties of Officers to be framed.
VI. One of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, or the Registrar General with the Approbation of such Principal Secretary, shall and may from Time to Time make Regulations for the Management of the General Registry Office, and for the Discharge of the Duties of the Registrar General, Clerks, Officers, and Servants of the said Office, and of the Registrars and Assistant Registrars herein mentioned, so that such Regulations be not contrary to the Provisions of this Act; and the Regulations so made and approved shall be binding on the Registrar General and Secretary, and the Clerks, Officers, and Servants, and on the Registrars and Assistant Registrars; and a Copy of all such Regulations shall be laid before both Houses of Parliament within Six Weeks after the same are approved of, or if Parliament shall not be then sitting, within One Month after the Commencement of the next Session.
VII Abstract of Registers to be laid annually before Parliament.
VII. The Registrar General shall transmit once in every Year to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Home Department a General Abstract of the Numbers of Births, Deaths, and Marriages registered during the foregoing Year, in such Form and at such Date as such Secretary shall from Time to Time prescribe; and every such annual General Abstract shall be laid before Parliament within One Month after Receipt thereof, or if Parliament shall not be then sitting, within One Month after the Commencement of the next Session.
VIII Registrar for each Parish to be elected by the Parochial Board.
VIII. A Registrar of Births, Deaths, and Marriages shall be elected in manner herein-after provided by the Parochial Board of each Parish, (including the several Parishes erected or to be erected under the Provisions of an Act passed in the Seventh and Eighth Year of the Reign of Her present Majesty, Chapter Forty-four,) not being a Burgh or Part of a Burgh, appointed and acting under an Act passed in the Eighth and Ninth Year of the Reign of Her present Majesty, Chapter Eighty-three, and such Parochial Board shall be the Judges of the Qualification of Persons to be elected to the Office of Registrar: Provided always, that any Session Clerk who is in Office at the Date of the passing of this Act shall be the Registrar under this Act for the Parish of which he is Session Clerk, unless it shall be proved to the Sheriff that he is unfit for the Office of Registrar, or that the Duties he has to discharge are incompatible with such Office.
IX Meetings of Parochial Board to be called by the Inspector of the Poor.
IX. The Meetings of the Parochial Board in any such Parish for the Trial of the Qualifications and the Election of a Registrar shall be called by the Inspector of the Poor acting under the said Act, by the Direction either of the Sheriff or of the Parochial Board, in such and the like Manner as the ordinary Meetings of the Parochial Board are called under the said Act, and such Meetings shall be called and held forthwith after the passing of this Act; and such Inspector shall, within Six Days after a Vacancy in the Office of Registrar of the Parish of which he is Inspector shall become known to him, apply to the Sheriff or the Parochial Board to appoint a Time and Place for a Meeting of the Parochial Board for the Purpose of electing a Registrar to supply such Vacancy; and in case there shall happen to be no Inspector for the Time, the Chairman of the Parochial Board shall make such Application to the Sheriff, or shall himself appoint a Time and Place for such Meeting: Provided, that if the Vacancy be caused by the Death of a Registrar who was a Schoolmaster, it shall be competent to the Sheriff, or, with the Consent of the Sheriff, to the Parochial Board, or Chairman calling the Meeting, to postpone the Election, for any Period not exceeding Four Months, until the Election of the Successor of such Schoolmaster.
X Parishes may be divided or united.
X. If it shall at any Time appear to the Sheriff that it is desirable that any Parish should be divided, or that Two or more Parishes or Portions of Parishes should be united into One District, the Sheriff may divide such Parish or unite such Parishes or Portions of Parishes into One or more Districts as he shall think fit, and each such District shall be held to be and be a separate Parish for the Purposes of this Act; and the Sheriff shall fix the distinctive Name by which each such District shall be called for the Purposes of this Act; and a written or printed Notice of such Division or Union, setting forth such distinctive Names, shall be affixed on the Doors of all the known Places of Public Worship within the Parish or Parishes thereby affected for Three consecutive Weeks before such...
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