624 



I;K(.I>TKKS 



REGISTRATION 



These were in effect the Mile early public registers, 

 Km private necrologies were sometimes kept \<y 

 the chaplains of great families e.g. Friar Brackley 

 IULS left niie of the I 'as tons and Mawtbys and Bum 

 ( History of Parish Register*) mentions several 

 entered in the llyleaves of private books of devo- 

 tinn. Mut it is mainly to the monastic cartularies 

 ami to inquisitions post-mortem anil proofs of age 

 that we must go for information on births and 

 deaths of the pre-Reformation tiim-. 



It is probaule that the injunction of Thomas 

 Cromwell in 1538, ordering parish registers to be 

 kept under the system now in vogue, was intended, 

 like Eil ward Vf.'s scholastic foundations, to meet 

 one of the immediate difficulties involved in the 

 suppression of the monasteries. Had thb injunc- 

 tion been strictly acted on we should now be in 

 possession of complete registers from that date 

 onwards. But, perhaps owing to the fall, soon 

 after, of the author of the injunction or to the 

 general laxity of the incumbents, very little heed 

 was taken of it, and the evil which this neglect 

 entailed became so crying that Elizal>eth in 1597 

 issued a stringent order that not only should 

 the registers be better kept, but copies of them 

 should be yearly sent to the bishop of the diocese, 

 an order which in 1812 was supplemented by 

 an act enjoining the preservation, arrangement, 

 and indexing alphabetically of the names on the 

 registers. But nothing has lieen of much value 

 against the incorrigible neglect of the incumbents 

 and bishops. Early transcripts are practically 

 non-existent, and even those of the 18th century 

 are most imperfect. In the returns of the popula- 

 tion abstracts in 1801 it was discovered that 

 amongst 11,000 parishes in England 812 registers 

 dating from 1538 alone existed, and later returns 

 in 1834 showed that even that small number had 

 decreased through the negligence of the clergy in 

 the interval. These last returns give full details 

 as to the date of the commencement of each register 

 in England. The only hope in the future for the 

 preservation of the remnant lies in the instant 

 removal from the parish churches (or, as is too 

 often the case, the incumbent's library) of the 

 actual registers and of the transcripts from the 

 bishops' registers to the Public Record OHice or to 

 some kindred institution, otherwise further loss 

 must be expected in spite of the fact that many of 

 the clergy are at last waking up to their duty in 

 the matter and many have transcrilied and indexed 

 their registers, while some have been printed by 

 the Harieian Society and by private individuals. 



A full list of the printed registers was issued in 

 1891 by Dr G. W. Marshall. Other standard works 

 on the subject are Bigland's Observations on Parish 

 Registers (1764) and Burn's History of Parish 

 Registers (1829; 2d ed. 1862), while brochures on 

 tl>e same subject have linen printed l>v Mr Chester 

 Waters (1870; new ed. 1887) and Mr Taswell- 

 Langniead. 



From these works the reader mav see how the 

 registers often contain much valuable information 

 as to the history of the parish, many incumbents 

 slightly overstepping their strict duty by putting 

 down noticeable and curious incidents which oc- 

 curred from time to time. The proper fees for 

 searching are one shilling for the first year ( which 

 includes births, marriages, and burials, though 

 some clergymen try to charge them separately) 

 and sixpence every subsequent year. It seems 

 doubtful if the searcher may take general notes, 

 but he may copy one entry per year without lieing 

 compelled to pay the further fee of 2s. 7d. which is 

 the clergyman's due if he is asked to give a certi- 

 fied copy. Most custodians of registers, however, 

 are extremely lilieral, and seldom take fees when 

 the object of the search is a literary one. 



Regis! ml Ion may IK: described as an account 

 of certain Iran-actions and legal facts inserted in 

 a book culled a register and kept at a public oilier. 

 The purpose in view usually is to preserve an 

 authentic and exact record of the transact ion-, to 

 secure for them a means of publicity, or to simplify 

 the met boils of proving them. The practice of 

 inscribing a copy of private documents in a public 

 register seems to have been originally introduced 

 by the Emperor Leo in reference to gifts the 

 object being to enable heirs to ascertain to what 

 claims the estate was liable before deciding whether 

 to accept the inheritance. A system of registration 

 is now employed in many different departments 

 and for very various purposes. The extent to 

 which registration is carried varies very much in 

 different countries; on the whole, however, it is 

 more carefully enforced and more widely applied 

 in continental states than in England or America. 

 In France and Italy, for example, in almost all 

 transactions parties resort to a notary, who draws 

 up the documents relating to the business in hand. 

 Such notarial transactions are to a certain extent 

 public acts, and are presumed to be valid and 

 binding, until they have been impeached and set 

 aside by a separate proceeding instituted for that 

 purpose. Further, in these countries all documents 

 executed in the presence of a notary having any 

 reference to certain subjects for example, to the 

 creation or transfer of an interest in land are 

 transcribed by him in a public register, and so 

 liecome available for general information. 



In England all judicial decisions and the whole 

 proceedings of the higher courts in their various 

 stages are registered ; and with registrars attached 

 to the Privy-council, the supreme court, and the 

 county courts, affidavits, pleadings, &c. arc filed. 

 Probates of wills and letters of administration, 

 both of which are really judicial proceedings, are 

 registered either in the principal registry of the 

 Probate Division in London, or in one of the 

 district registries, which are situated at various 

 places throughout the country. Land registries, 

 for officially recording the title to, dealings with, 

 and charges on land, are of two classes vi/. 

 registries of title and registries of assurances. The 

 former are authentic and self-explanatory recoids. 

 Itehind which one cannot go except in case of 

 fraud. The latter merely contain n statement 

 of the existence of documents or assurances affect- 

 ing the title to the land, giving an epitome of each 

 document, and leaving the persons concerned to 

 draw their own conclusions as to the effect of those 

 documents on the title to the land. The whole 

 subject of land registration has been much dis- 

 cussed of recent years in England, and several 

 attempte to establish a system of registration have 

 been made without much success. Lord A\ e-t 

 bury's Act (25 and 26 Viet. chap. 53), establishing 

 a general land registry for England and Wales, ha- 

 notorionsly proved a "failure. The present statute 

 regulating the general registration of land is the 

 Land Transfer Act (38 and 3!) Viet. chap. 87), 

 whieh creates an office of land registry in London : 

 but in the case of this act also practical results have 

 l>een very small. The doubts and complications sur- 

 rounding titles to land in England are so appalling 

 that, though a compulsory system of registration is 

 universally recognised to be expedient, parliament 

 has not dared to enforce it. Bills of sale must be 

 registered within seven clear days after execution, 

 or, if executed out of Knglaiid, then within seven 

 days after their arrival in England ; further, a bill, 

 if still existing, must lie re-registered every five 

 years. Under the Merchant Shipping Acts every 

 British ship must be registered, as also must all 

 changes of ownership in a ship, whether by sale, 

 mortgage, death, or bankruptcy ; in the United 



