Penalty for not

XLII. And be it enacted, That every Person who shall refuse duly registering or without reasonable Cause omit to register any Marriage solemBirths, Deaths, nized by him, or which he ought to register, and every Registrar and Marriages, who shall refuse or without reasonable Cause omit to register any or for losing or Birth or Death of which he shall have had due Notice as aforesaid, injuring the Registers. and every Person having the Custody of any Register Book, or certified Copy thereof or of any Part thereof, who shall carelessly lose or injure the same, or carelessly allow the same to be injured whilst in his Keeping, shall forfeit a Sum not exceeding Fifty Pounds for every such Offence.

Penalty for

destroying or falsifying Register Books.

Accidental

corrected.

XLIII. And be it enacted, That every Person who shall wilfully destroy or injure, or cause to be destroyed or injured, any such Register Book, or any Part or certified Copy of any Part thereof, or shall falsely make or counterfeit, or cause to be falsely made or counterfeited, any Part of any such Register Book or certified Copy thereof, or shall wilfully insert or cause to be inserted in any Register Book or certified Copy thereof any false Entry of any Birth, Death, or Marriage, or shall wilfully give any false Certificate, or shall certify any Writing to be a Copy or Extract of any Register Book, knowing the same Register to be false in any Part thereof, or shall forge or counterfeit the Seal of the Register Office, shall be guilty of Felony.

XLIV. Provided always, and be it enacted, That no Person Errors may be charged with the Duty of registering any Birth, Death, or Marriage, who shall discover any Error to have been committed in the Form or Substance of any such Entry, shall be therefore liable to any of the Penalties aforesaid if within One Calendar Month next after the Discovery of such Error, in the Presence of the Parents of the Child whose Birth may have been so registered, or of the Parties married, or of Two Persons attending upon any Person in his or her last Illness whose Death may have been so registered, or in case of the Death or Absence of the respective Parties aforesaid, then in the Presence of the Superintendent Registrar and of Two other credible Witnesses who shall respectively attest the same, he shall correct the erroneous Entry according to the Truth of the Case, by Entry in the Margin, without any Alteration of the original Entry, and shall sign the marginal Entry, and add thereunto the Day of the Month and Year when such Correction [shall be made: Provided also, that in the Case of a Marriage Register he shall make the like marginal Entry, attested in like Manner in the Duplicate Marriage Register Book to be made by him as aforesaid, and in every Case shall make the like Alteration in the certified Copy of the Register Book to be made by him as aforesaid, or in case such certified Copy shall have been already made, provided he shall make and deliver in like Manner a separate certified Copy of the original erroneous Entry, and of the marginal Correction therein made.

Recovery of
Penalties.

XLV. And be it enacted, That all Fines and Forfeitures by this Act imposed, unless otherwise directed, shall be recovered before any Two Justices of the Peace for the County, City, or Place where the Offence shall have happened, upon the Information or Complaint of any Person; and if on the Conviction of the Offender, either on his or her Confession, or by the Oath of any One

or

or more credible Witness or Witnesses, (which Oath such Justices are hereby empowered to administer,) such Fines or Forfeitures, with the Costs of the Conviction, shall not be forthwith paid, the same shall be levied by Distress and Sale of the Goods and Chattels of the Offender, by Warrant under the Hand and Seal of such Justices; and for Want of Distress such Justices may commit every such Offender to the Common Gaol or House of Correction for the County, City, or Place where the Offender shall be committed, without Bail or Mainprize, for any Term not exceeding One Calendar Month, unless such Fine and Forfeiture, and all reasonable Charges attending the Recovery thereof, shall be sooner paid; and one Moiety of all such Fines and Forfeitures shall go to the Person who shall inform and sue or prosecute for the same, and the other Moiety shall go to the Registrar General, or to such other Person as the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury shall appoint, for the Use of His Majesty; and no Distress made by virtue of this Act shall be deemed unlawful, nor shall the Party making the same be deemed a Trespasser, on account of any Defect or Want of Form in the Summons, Conviction, or Warrant of Distress, or on account of any Irregularity which shall be afterwards committed by the Party distrain- ing, but the Person or Persons aggrieved by such Irregularity shall recover full Satisfaction for the special Damages sustained in an Action on the Case.

XLVI. And be it enacted, That in all Cases where the Sum Appeal. adjudged to be paid on any such summary Conviction shall exceed Five Pounds, any Person convicted may appeal to the next Court of General or Quarter Sessions which shall be holden not sooner than Twelve Days after the Day of such Conviction for the County or other District wherein the Cause of Complaint shall have arisen; provided that such Person shall give to the Complainant a Notice in Writing of such Appeal, and of the Cause and Matter thereof, within Three Days after such Conviction, and Seven clear Days at the least before such Sessions, and shall also either remain in Custody until the Sessions, or enter into a Recognizance, with Two sufficient Sureties, before a Justice of the Peace, conditioned personally to appear at the said Sessions, and to try such Appeal, and to abide the Judgment of the Court thereupon, and to pay such Costs as shall be by the Court awarded; and upon such Notice being given, and such Recognizances being entered into, the Court at such Sessions shall hear and determine the Matter of the Appeal, and shall make such Order therein, with or without Costs, to either Party, as to the Court shall seem meet, and in case of the Dismissal of the Appeal, or the Affirmance of the Conviction, shall order and adjudge the Offender to be punished according to the Conviction, and to pay such Costs as shall be awarded, and shall, if necessary, issue Process for enforcing such Judgment.

XLVII. And be it enacted, That no such Conviction or Adju- No Certiorari. dication made on Appeal therefrom shall be quashed for Want of Form, or be removed by Certiorari or otherwise into any of His Majesty's Superior Courts of Record, and no Warrant of Commitment shall be held void by reason of any Defect therein,

provided

Correspondence of Registrar

provided it be therein alleged that the Party has been convicted, and there be a valid Conviction to sustain the same.

XLVIII. And be it enacted, That the Registrar General may receive and send by the General Post from and to Places in General relating England all Letters and Packets relating exclusively to the

to this Act to

be free of

Postage.

Registers of Baptisms and Burials may be kept as heretofore.

Registrar
General to fur-

nish Notices to
Guardians of
Unions, &c.
specifying Acts
required to be
done by Parties
registering.

Execution of this Act free from the Duty of Postage, provided that such Letters and Packets as shall be sent to the Registrar General be directed to the " "Registrar General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages," at his Office, and that all such Letters and Packets as shall be sent by the Registrar General shall be in Covers, with the Words "Registrar General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages' printed on the same, and be sealed with the Seal of the said Register Office, and be signed on the Outside thereof under such Words with the Name of such Person as the said Registrar General, with the Consent of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, or any Three or more of them, shall appoint, in his own Handwriting, (such Name to be from Time to Time sent to the Secretary of the General Post Office in London,) and under such other Regulations as the said Lords Commissioners, or any Three or more of them, shall think fit; and if the Person so to be appointed shall subscribe or seal any Letter or Packet whatever, except such only concerning which he shall receive the special Direction of his superior Officer, or which he shall himself know to relate exclusively to the Execution of this Act, or if the Person so to be appointed, or any other Person, shall send or cause to be sent under any such Cover any Letter, Paper, or Writing, or any Inclosure, other than shall relate exclusively to the Execution of this Act, every Person so offending shall forfeit and pay the Sum of One hundred Pounds, and be dismissed from his Office; one Moiety of such Penalty to be paid to the Use of His Majesty, His Heirs and Successors, and the other Moiety to the Use of the Person who shall inform or sue for the same, to be sued for and recovered in any of His Majesty's Courts of Record at Westminster.

XLIX Provided always, and be it enacted, That nothing herein contained shall affect the Registration of Baptisms or Burials as now by Law established, or the Right of any Officiating Minister to receive the Fees now usually paid for the Performance or Registration of any Baptism, Burial, or Marriage.

L. And be it further enacted, That the said Registrar General shall, within Three Calendar Months after his Appointment to such Office, furnish to the respective Guardians of every Union, Parish, or Place printed Notices, which the said Guardians shall, as soon as conveniently may be after the Receipt thereof, cause to be fixed or placed on the Outside of the several Church and Chapel Doors, or other public and conspicuous Buildings or Places, within their respective Unions, Parishes, or Places, and which said Notices shall specify the several Acts required to be done by Persons who, may be desirous of solemnizing Marriage, or of registering the Birth of any Child or the Death of any Person under the Provisions of this Act.

SCHE