REGISTRATION 



625 



Kingdom the principal officer of customs at the port 

 of registry is the registrar. Among the other prin- 

 cipal registers are the register of joint-stock com- 

 panies, established by the Companies Acts ; the 

 register of friendly societies ; the registers of 

 designs, copyrights, patents, and trade-marks ; the 

 registers of seamen, of newspapers, of solicitors, of 

 petitions in lunacy, and so on. 



In Scotland registration is an important feature 

 in the administration of the law. It may be treated 

 under two heads vi/. registration for preservation 

 and execution, and registration for publication. 

 Registration in order to execution i.e. to enforce 

 the performance of obligations, arose before the 

 Reformation from the practice of churchmen, who, 

 in order to brinjj the enforcement of ordinary con- 

 tracts within their jurisdiction, procured the inser- 

 tion in obligations of a solemn oath of performance 

 and consent to excommunication in the event of 

 failure. It is now an almost universal practice to 

 insert a clause of registration in deeds stipulating 

 for money payments, especially in bonds. A short 

 clause of registration has been introduced by recent 

 conveyancing acts, in these words : ' And I con- 

 sent to registration hereof for preservation ( or for 

 preservation and execution ) ; ' and this clause, in 

 any deed or writing whatsoever, is declared to import 

 ' a consent to registration and a procuratory of regis- 

 tration in the Books of Council and Session, or 

 other judge's books competent therein to remain 

 for preservation ; and also, if for execution, that 

 letters of horning and all necessary execution shall 

 pass thereon, upon six days' charge, on a decree to 

 be interponed thereto in common form' (31 and 32 

 Viet. chap. 101, sects. 8, 138). Such registration 

 for execution, which is in effect a short cut to a 

 judgment without the formality of an action, may 

 take place after the death either of the creditor or 

 of the debtor. By special statutes the privileges of 

 registration in order to diligence are extended to 

 bills and promissory-notes, the acceptance and 

 subscription of which implies a consent to registra- 

 tion for execution. The records now available for 

 registering deeds for preservation or execution are 

 these: (1) The Register of the Great Seal; (2) 

 the Books of Council and Session, for all deeds and 

 probative writs ; (3) the books of any sheriff court ; 

 (4) the books of royal burghs, for instruments of 

 protest on bills or notes; (5) the General Register 

 of Sasines. 



Registration for publication applies chiefly to 

 writs connected with heritable rights. The present 

 system owes its origin to the statute 1617, chap. 16, 

 which established a general register in Edinburgh, 

 and particular or local registers throughout the 

 country, in which sasines and other writs aflecting 

 heritable property should be registered within sixty 

 days of their date. The instrument of sasine and 

 the whole ceremony of aasine are now dispensed 

 with in the transfer of lands ; by the Titles to 

 Land Acts of 1858 and 1860, the recording of the 

 conveyance itself, with warrant of registration 

 thereon, now constitutes infeftment to the same 

 effect as if an instrument of sasine had been expede 

 and recorded at the date of recording the convey- 

 ance. Registration, however, operates as infeftment 

 only in favoiirof the party expressed by the warrant. 

 The registers for publication now subsisting are 

 < 1 ) the General Register of Sasines, divided^ into 

 Bounties; (2) Register of Entails; (3) General 

 Register of Inhibitions and Adjudications ; (4) the 

 litirgh Registers of Sasines for lands in each royal 

 burgh in which such a register has been in use to 

 be kept. The public registers of Scotland used to 

 le under the charge of the Lord Clerk Register ; 

 but the duties of that functionary in this connec- 

 tion were by 42 and 43 Viet. chap. 44, sect. 5, 

 transferred to the Depnte-clerk Register. All the 

 404 



records are collected at the General Register House 

 in Edinburgh. 



In the United States, in order to be wholly valid, 

 a deed or other instruments affecting the title to 

 real estate must be recorded in the proper office for 

 the registry of deeds, and this constitutes construc- 

 tive notice of its contents. A chattel mortgage must 

 be filed to be effective against third persons ; but it 

 is valid between parties without filing. In most of 

 the states the effect of the filing continues only 

 for a limited period, usually for a year, and the 

 mortgagee must consequently refile within the 

 prescribed time. The certificate of the recording 

 officer is conclusive of the fact of filing. For a 

 digest of the provisions of the different statutes as 

 to the registration of deeds, see Stimson's American 

 Statute Law, sect. 1610 et seq. 



REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS, DEATHS, AND 

 MARRIAGES is the name for the system of regula- 

 tions providing for a record of these events. In 

 England the lirst act on the subject dates from 

 1836. By it a general registry-office was provided 

 at Somerset House, London, for England and 

 Wales. But even before the new arrangement 

 there had been long in operation an ecclesiastical 

 mode of registration of marriages, baptisms, and 

 burials in connection with each parish church, it 

 being the duty of the officiating minister to keep 

 such a register. See REGISTERS (PARISH). Also, 

 since 1592, the compilation of weekly bills of 

 Mortality (q.v.), containing particulars as to 

 the death-rate of London, has gone on almost 

 uninterruptedly. These modes of registration 

 were found to be well-nigh useless for statistical 

 purposes. Hence the systematic plan instituted 

 in 1836, by the Acts 6 and 7 Will. IV. chaps. 85, 

 86, which have been since amended by subsequent 

 legislation, the whole being entitled the Births 

 and Deaths Registration Acts, 1836-74 ; the last 

 and most important is the 37 and 38 Viet. chap. 

 88. There are 8]>ecial legislative provisions as to 

 the registration of marriages. The acts provided 

 that the head of the system should be the Registrar- 

 general of births, deaths, and marriages in Eng- 

 land. An annual abstract of the registrar's returns 

 must be laid before parliament. Every poor- 

 law union throughout the country is subdivided 

 into districts, and in each district a locally-resident 

 registrar is chosen. Superintendent-registrars are 

 also appointed. The registrars make out their 

 returns quarterly, and send them to the super- 

 intendent-registrar of the district, by whom they 

 are transmitted to the general register-office. 

 There they are preserved, and may be inspected 

 or excerpted on payment of a small fee. 



Births. In the case of every child born alive, 

 the father and mother, or, in their default, other 

 specified persons, are to give notice of such birth 

 to the district registrar within forty-two days after 

 the occurrence. If this is not done he may require 

 any of the defaulters, by notice in writing, to 

 attend and inform him, within three months of the 

 birth, with the particulars thereof. Special provi- 

 sions are made for the case of foundlings, children 

 born at sea, &c. It is the duty of the registrar to 

 acquaint himself with all births in his district, and 

 register the same within three months free of 

 charge. After three months the birth can only be 

 registered with certain formalities, including pay- 

 ment of a small fee, and after twelve months only 

 with the written consent of the Registrar-general. 

 The particulars to be registered are the place and 

 date, sex of child, its name and that of the mother 

 and the father, with the calling of the latter. The 

 signature and description of informant are also 

 noted. The date of registration and signature of 

 registrar complete the entry. 



Marriages. These may be religious or civil. In 



