Registration of Burials Act 1864 (c. 97)

Registration of Burials Act 1864

1864 CHAPTER 97

An Act to make further Provision for the Registration of Burials in England.

[29th July 1864]

WHEREAS Provision is made by Law in England for the Registration of Burials performed according to the Rites of the Established Church and of all Burials in Grounds provided under the Burial Acts :

And whereas it is expedient that all Burials in England be registered:

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 :

1 All Burials to be registered.

All Burials in any Burial Ground in England which are not now by Law required to be registered shall be registered in Register Books to be provided for each such Burial Ground by the Company, Body, or Persons to whom the same belongs, and to be kept for that Purpose according to the Laws in force by which Registers are required to be kept by Rectors, Vicars, or Curates of Parishes or Ecclesiastical Districts in England.

2 By whom Books to be kept.

Such Register Books shall be so kept for every such Burial Ground by some Officer or Person to be appointed to that Duty by the Company, Body, or Persons to whom such Burial Ground belongs.

3 Copies of Registers to be sent to Registrar of Diocese.

Copies of the Register Books kept under this Act for every such Burial Ground shall be from. Time to Time made, verified, and signed by such Officer or Person as aforesaid, and sent by him to the Registrar of the Diocese wherein the Burial Ground to which the same relates is situate, to be kept with the Copies of the Register Books of the Parishes within such Diocese.

4 Penalty for Failure to comply with Act.

If any such Company, Body, or Persons, or any such Officer or Person as aforesaid wilfully fail to comply with any of the Provisions of this Act, they or he shall be guilty of an Offence against this Act, and on summary Conviction thereof before a Justice of the Peace shall be liable for every such Offence to a Penalty not exceeding Five Pounds.

5 Registers to be Evidence.

The Register Books kept under this Act, or Copies thereof or Extracts therefrom, shall be received in all Courts as Evidence of the Burials entered therein.

6 Registers to be subject to Regulations of 6 & 7 W. 4. c. 86. as to Searches, &c.

The Register Books kept under this Act shall, as to Searches therein and Copies thereof and Extracts therefrom, be subject to the Regulations of the Act of the Session of the Sixth and Seventh Years of King William the Fourth (Chapter Eighty-six), " for " registering Births, Deaths, and Marriages in England," so far as those Regulations relate to Register Books of Burials kept by Rectors, Vicars, or Curates.

7 As to " Burial Ground."

In this Act the Term " Burial Ground " includes a Vault or other Place where any Body is buried.

8 Short Title.

This Act may be cited as The Registration of Burials Act, 1864.