The Local Government (Registration Service) Order 1973

Citation and commencement

1.  This order may be cited as the Local Government (Registration Service) Order 1973 and shall come into operation on 1st November 1973.

Interpretation

2.—(1) In this order, unless the context otherwise requires:—

“the Act” means the Local Government Act 1972;

“the Act of 1953” means the Registration Service Act 1953;

“council” means the council of a non-metropolitan county and the council of a metropolitan district;

“country” means a non-metropolitan country;

“district” means a metropolitan district save that in article 7 “district” means a registration district for the purpose of section 5 of the Act of 1953; and

“registration officer” means any of the following officers appointed under the Act of 1953, that is to say a superintendent registrar, registrar of births and deaths (including a registrar of births and deaths exercising any of the functions of a registrar of marriages), or a person engaged whole-time as a deputy superintendent registrar or deputy registrar of births and deaths.

(2) Unless the context otherwise requires, references in this order to the provisions of any enactment shall be construed as references to those provisions as amended or re-enacted by any subsequent enactment.

(3) The Interpretation Act 1889 applies to the interpretation of this order as it applies to the interpretation of an Act of Parliament.

Application

3.  Any provision in this order for the transfer of a person not engaged whole-time as a registration officer shall apply only to his office as registration officer.

Registration Service

4.—(1) Each council shall not later than 1st January 1974 prepare and submit to the Secretary of State a scheme for the purposes of section 13 of the Act of 1953 for a county or district, and section 14(4) of the Act of 1953 (which relates to the approval of the Secretary of State) shall apply to any scheme so submitted.

(2) If a council fails to submit a scheme in accordance with paragraph (1) of this article, the Registrar General may, after consultation with the council, prepare a scheme for the purpose of section 13 of the Act of 1953 and any scheme so prepared by him, if approved by the Secretary of State, shall have effect as if it were a scheme submitted by the council and approved by the Secretary of State.

(3) Subject to any further scheme made by a council and approved by the Secretary of State under section 14 of the Act of 1953, and to the provisions of article 5(3) of this order, a scheme approved by the Secretary of State under paragraph (1) or (2) of this article for a country or district shall have effect for the organisation of the registration service in the county or district as from 1st April 1974.

Transfer of Staff

5.—(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2) of this article, every registration officer who immediately before 1st April 1974 holds office in or for any registration district or sub-district contained in the area of any local authority mentioned in column 1 or Part I of the Schedule to this order shall on 1st April 1974 be transferred to and become the holder of the office allocated to him in accordance with article 6 of this order as if he had been appointed to that office by the council mentioned in column 2 of Part I of the said Schedule opposite such first mentioned authority.

(2) Every registration officer who immediately before 1st April 1974 holds an office mentioned in column 3 of Part II of the Schedule to this order in or for the registration district or sub-district mentioned apposite thereto in column 1 or 2 of Part II of the said Schedule, shall on 1st April 1974 be transferred to and become the holder of the office allocated to him in accordance with article 6 of this order as if he had been appointed to that office by the council mentioned in column 4 of Part II of the said Schedule opposite such first mentioned office.

(3) Every registration officer transferred by paragraph (1) or (2) of this article shall hold his new office on terms and conditions not less favourable than those which as registration officer he enjoyed immediately before 1st April 1974 until the council notify him that any different terms and conditions applicable to his office under the registration scheme approved for the county or district under section 14 of the Act of 1953 or article 4 of this order are to have effect in his case.

Allocation of Staff

6.—(1) Each council shall before 1st February 1974 make and submit to the Registrar General proposals for allocating to the posts described in the registration scheme approved for the county or district under section 14 of the Act of 1953 or article 4 of this order the officers who will, pursuant to paragraph (1) or (2) of article 5 of this order, become registration officers in the county or district on 1st April 1974.

(2) Not later than the day on which proposals under paragraph (1) of this article are submitted to the Registrar General, the council shall send a copy thereof to every registration officer affected by the proposals and the Registrar General, after considering any representations with respect to the proposals made by any such officer within a period of fourteen days after the submission of the proposals, may approve the proposals with or without modifications.

(3) If any council fails to submit proposals by 1st February 1974 for the purpose mentioned in paragraph (1) of this Article, the Registrar General may determine the allocation of officers to the posts described in the council's approved registration scheme, and any allocation so determined shall have effect as if it had been proposed by the council and approved by the Registrar General.

Transitional provisions as to notices, etc., under the Marriage Act 1949

7.—(1) Nothing in the Act or in any scheme mentioned in article 4 of this order shall affect the validity of any certificate or licence issued or notice given under the Marriage Act 1949 before 1st April 1974. A marriage solemnised on or after that date on the authority of such a certificate or licence shall not be void, and a person solemnising a marriage in accordance with sub-paragraph (b)(iii) of the next succeeding paragraph shall not be guilty of an offence under section 75(2)(a)(ii) of the Marriage Act 1949, by reason of the fact that the marriage is solemnised in the office other than that specified in the notice of marriage or certificate.

(2) Where notice of marriage is given before 1st April 1974 to any superintendent registrar whose district will be altered or abolished on that date and the marriage has not been solemnised before that date, the following provisions shall apply:—

(a) where the district is altered but not abolished, the provisions of the Marriage Act 1949 with regard to the issue of a certificate or a certificate and licence shall apply as if the alteration had not taken place;

(b) where the district is abolished, the notice shall have effect as if it had been given to the superintendent registrar designated by the Registrar General for the purposes of section 15(1) of the Act of 1953 as the successor to the superintendent registrar whose district is abolished (which successor is hereinafter referred to as the `succeeding superintendent registrar') and

(i) the succeeding superintendent registrar shall cause any notice or exact copy of the particulars entered in the marriage notice book, required to be displayed under section 31(1) of the Marriage Act 1949, to be affixed in some conspicuous place in his office from 1st April 1974 for any unexpired portion of the period mentioned in the said section 31(1);

(ii) the succeeding superintendent registrar, and any other superintendent registrar so empowered by the Marriage Act 1949, may, in accordance with the provisions of that Act, issue his certificate or, as the case may be, his certificate and licence for the solemnisation of the marriage notwithstanding that the building in which the marriage is to be solemnised is not within his district or within the district within which one of the persons to be married has resided; and

(iii) the succeeding superintendent registrar may arrange for the solemnisation of the marriage in his office where the persons to be married had stated in the notice that they wished to be married in the office of the superintendent registrar to whom the notice was given.

(3) For the purposes of any notice of marriage to be given on or after 1st April 1974 the alteration or the establishment of any district by any scheme mentioned in article 4 of this order shall be deemed to have taken effect from 28th February 1974.

(4) The superintendent registrar of any district which will be abolished on 1st April 1974 shall for one month prior to that date display in a conspicuous position in his office and inform every person giving notice of marriage, the name and address of the superintendent registrar designated as his successor for the purposes of section 15(1) of the Act of 1953.

(5) Nothing in the Act or in any scheme mentioned in article 4 of this order shall prejudice or affect the registration of any building for the solemnisation of marriages under section 41 of the Marriage Act 1949 or the appointment of any person as an authorised person under section 43 of the Marriage Act 1949.

Registration of Births and Deaths

8.  Where any birth (including a still-birth) or death occurring in any sub-district which is altered or abolished on 1st April 1974 has not been registered before that date, it shall be registered by the registrar of births and deaths for the sub-district in which is situated on 1st April 1974 the place of birth or death, as the case may be.

Keith Joseph

Secretary of State for Social Services

2nd October 1973