Page:1836 (33) Registration of Births &c. A bill for registering Births Deaths and Marriages in England.djvu/13

( 13 ) And be it Enacted, That it shall be lawful for every Officiating Minister who shall solemnize any Marriage in England, and for every Registering Officer of the People called Quakers, and every Secretary of a Synagogue, after the said Thirty-first day of December to ask of the Parties married the several particulars herein required to be registered touching such Marriage; and every Person who shall refuse, or without reasonable cause neglect to answer, according to the best of his or her knowledge and belief, shall forfeit and pay a sum not more than Fifty Pounds for every such offence.

And be it Enacted, That every Person who shall wilfully make or cause to be made for the purpose of being inserted in any Register of Birth, Death or Marriage, any false statement touching any of the particulars herein required to be known and registered, shall be deemed guilty of Perjury, and punished accordingly.

And be it Enacted, That every Person who shall refuse, or without reasonable cause omit, to register any Marriage solemnized by him, which, according to the provisions of this Act, he ought to register; and every Registrar who shall refuse, or without reasonable cause omit, to register any Birth or Death, of which he shall have had due notice as aforesaid, and every Person having, according to the Provisions of this Act, the keeping 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 keepings shall forfeit a sum not exceeding Fifty Pounds for every such offence.

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, and being: lawfully convicted thereof, shall be liable to be transported beyond the seas for the term of his natural life, or for any number of years not less, than Fourteen.

Provided always, and be it Enacted, That no Person 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 said,