the rites of our church, shall be made and kept by the rector, or other the officiating minister, of every parish or chapelry, on books of parchment or durable paper, to be provided by the king's printer at the expense of the parishes; and the particular form of the book and of the manner of making the entries are directed according to a form in the schedule to the act.d Books for regis- Separate books, with the forms appropriate to each, are tering baptisms. to be provided for baptisms (whether public or private) and for burials; and every officiating minister, as soon as possible after the solemnisation of every baptism, whether public or private, and after every burial, shall record in the proper register-book for that purpose the several particulars pointed out to be inserted by the form of the book, and shall sign the same; and unless he is prevented by sickness or unavoidable impediment, this is in no case to be delayed later than seven days after the ceremony has taken place. Baptisms and burials performed else where than in parish church, or by any other e If the ceremony of baptism or burial is performed elsewhere than in the parish church or chapel, having its own registry, and by a person who is not the officiating minister of the parish, then the minister performing the cerethan the minis-mony must, on the same or the next day, transmit to the ter of the parish. minister of the parish a certificate in a prescribed form; and the minister of the parish is thereupon to enter such baptism in the register according to the certificate, adding the words according to the certificate of the Rev. A. B., transmitted to me on the day of - This last mentioned section is important to be observed in the case of private baptisms. In case of private baptisms. Register-book. produced. The register-book is to be deemed the property of the kept, and when parish (so that in legal proceedings it would be properly termed the property of the churchwardens); the custody of it is to be in the rector or other officiating minister, by whom it is to be kept in an iron chest, provided by the parish, either in his own house, if he resides in the parish, or in the church; and the book is to be taken from the chest only for the purpose of making entries, being produced when necessary in evidence, or for some of the purposes mentioned in the act.h Copies how to be made and verified. At the expiration of two months after every year, copies of the entries in the preceding year are to be made by the officiating minister or persons under his direction, on parchment, to be provided by the parish, and the contents d See Appendix. 8 Sect. 4. e Sect. 3. ↑ See Appendix. to be verified by the minister according to a prescribed form; and the declaration in such form is to be written on the copy, without any stamp, immediately after the last entry, and the signature to be attested by one at least of the church or chapel wardens.* And these copies, thus verified and attested, are to be To whom to be transmitted by post to the registrar of the diocese, on or sent. before the 1st of June in every year; and the registrar of every diocese, on or before the 1st of July, is to report to the bishop whether such copies have been sent to him, and if not, specially to state the default.' places. If the minister neglect to verify or sign such copies and Minister negsuch declaration, so that the churchwardens are not able lecting to sign to transmit them, they shall, within the time required for and verify. the transmission thereof, certify such default to the registrar, who shall specially state the same in his report to the bishop. In the cases of baptisms or burials in extra- Baptisms in parochial places, where there is no church or chapel, the extra-parochial officiating minister, within one month afterwards, is to deliver to the rector, &c., of the parish immediately adjoining, as the ordinary shall direct, a memorandum thereof, signed by the parent of the child baptised; or a memorandum of the burial, signed by the persons employed about the same, together with two of the persons attending the same, as the nature of the case may require; every such memorandum to contain such particulars as are by the act required; and such memorandum shall be entered by the rector, &c., to whom it is so given, in the register of his parish, and form a part thereof." register, &c. Any persons wilfully inserting or causing to be inserted Punishment for false entries in the register or the transmitted copies, or wilfully altering forging, altering, or counterfeiting the same, or wilfully destroying, defacing, or injuring the register-book, or knowingly signing or certifying any copy, false altogether or in part, shall be guilty of felony, and transported for fourteen years. But no rector or officiating minister who shall discover any error to have been committed in the form or substance of the entry of any such baptism or burial by him solemnized shall be liable to those penalties, if he shall Mode of correct within one calendar month after discovery of such error, in ing errors dispresence of the parent or parents of the child baptised, or register book. in case of the death or absence of the respective parties, then in the presence of the church or chapel wardens (who shall attest the same), alter and correct the entry found to be erroneous, according to the case, by entry in the margin covered in the Effect of stat. c. 86. of such book wherein such erroneous entry is made, without alteration of the original entry; and he shall sign such entry in the margin, and add to such signature the day of the month and year when such correction was made; provided that, in the fair copy of the register so transmitted to the registrars of the dioceses, the officiating minister shall certify the alterations so made by him." The statute which we have thus far analysed contains several further directions as to registration, but it will not be necessary to mention them here, as they do not in any way affect our present subject, viz. the duties of a minister in the office of baptism. The recent act passed for the civil registration of births, 6 & 7 Will. 4, deaths, and marriages, expressly provides that nothing therein contained shall affect the registration of baptisms or burials as now by law established; so that, whatever any parishioner, incumbent, or curate, had respectively a right to insist upon with regard to the registration of baptisms, may be equally insisted on by either party now. Áll the directions therefore contained in the statute before explained remain in full force. Additional directions. Minister per. forming rite of baptism to give certificate, if required. Fee for certificate, &c. The following enactments, however, of the statute 6 & 7 Will. IV. c. 86, are to be observed in addition to those before mentioned. If any child born in England, whose birth shall have been registered according to the provisions of that act, shall, within six calendar months after it has been so registered, have any name given to it in baptism, the parents or persons so procuring such name to be given, may within seven days afterwards procure and deliver to the registrar a certificate according to a prescribed form, signed by the minister who shall have performed the rite of baptism; which certificate the minister is required to deliver immediately after the baptism, whenever it shall be then demanded, on payment of the fee of 1s., which he shall be entitled to receive for the same; and the registrar or superintendent registrar, upon the receipt of that certificate, and upon payment of a fee of 1s., shall, without any erasure of the original entry, forthwith register that the child was baptised by such a name; and such registrar or superintendent registrar shall thereupon certify upon the certificate the additional entry so made, and forthwith send the certificate through the post to the registrar general. Every rector, &c., and every registrar, &c., who shall have the keeping for the time being of any register-book, shall at all reasonable times 4 6 & 7 Will. 4, c. 86. Rogers's E. L. 771, 772. • See Appendix. * 6 & 7 Will. 4, c. 86, s. 24. P Sect. 15. allow searches to be made, and shall give a copy, certified Searching the under his hand, of any entry or entries in the same, upon register book. payment of a fee of 1s. for every search, extending over a Fee for. period of not more than one year, and 6d. additional for every half year, and 2s. 6d. for every single certificate." All persons wilfully making or causing to be made any Persons wilfully false statements as to any of the particulars required to be making false inserted, are to be deemed guilty of perjury. X statements. &c. Any person having the custody of any register-book, or Losing or dacertified copy thereof, or of any part thereof, who shall maging register, carelessly lose or injure the same, or carelessly allow the same to be injured while in his keeping, shall forfeit a sum not exceeding 501.3 CHAPTER III. OF MARRIAGE, AND THE DUTIES OF A MINISTER riage. Of all the various matters which are the subject of the Importance and laws of this country, none perhaps is more important than extent of the that of marriage: and this, whether we consider it as the laws of marsubject of the ecclesiastical or of the common law. In what manner marriage may be contracted so as to be valid and indissoluble, is in itself an extensive consideration; but the various consequences of that contract, upon property settled by or upon the contracting parties, the reciprocal rights and duties of husband and wife, the rights of children of the marriage, and the duties and liabilities of trustees, all these form varied and extensive subjects of inquiry. It will be obvious, however, that for our present pur- Subject of the pose the discussion of these matters would be unnecessary, present inquiry. and we shall endeavour, in the present chapter, to confine ourselves to the consideration of that branch of the law which treats of the ceremony of marriage and its immediate incidents; and to those only, so far as the clergyman is interested in, or affected by, its provisions. Formerly, marriages celebrated per presbyterum sacris ordinibus constitutum were alone valid and complete as marriages in this country, and those only were regular which were also Marriages, how solemnized at different periods. celebrated in facie ecclesiæ. But before the time of Pope Innocent III. there was no solemnization of marriage in the church; but the man came to the woman's house where the woman inhabited, and led her home to his own house, which was all the ceremony then used. By the customs of the Anglo-Saxons the marriage ceremony was commonly performed at the house of the bridegroom, to which the bride had been previously taken; and there was an interval in this country during which marriages were not had in facie ecclesiæ; for, during the usurpation, they were solemnized before justices of the peace, an innovation probably introduced for the purpose of degrading the clergy, but it was afterwards considered necessary to pass an act of parliament to confirm the validity of such marriages. But although the clergyman might have been punishable, it does not appear that it was, previous to the first Marriage Act, absolutely necessary to the validity of a marriage that it should take place in facie ecclesiæ, for many marriages solemnized in the Fleet Prison or its liberties, or in May Fair, were, before that time, considered valid though irregular marriages. As no marriage, therefore, could formerly have taken place without the intervention of a clergyman, the subject was of more universal interest to him than at present; for the laws of a neighbouring tion of the law. country in this matter have recently been introduced here; and the intervention of a clergyman in marriage is now at the option of the contracting parties, and is by no means requisite by law to complete the validity of the contract. Recent altera Marriages according to the rites of the esta Marriage, therefore, is no longer necessarily the subject of ecclesiastical cognizance: nor does it necessarily in any blished church. manner concern the ecclesiastical body, or its individual members; but whenever the parties may choose to contract marriage according to the forms of the church of England, the clergyman is still bound to solemnize it according to prescribed forms, and to observe all the laws relating to it in the same manner as if no such general license to marry without his intervention by law existed.* Essentials to In order to constitute a valid marriage the parties must validity of mar- be able to contract, willing to contract, and must actually riage. contract in the proper forms and solemnities, required by law to be observed in the mode in which they have chosen to adopt. In each of these requisites, where the parties Bacon's Abr. Marriage C.; Salk. 119. b Moor, 170; per Goldingham, arguendo. d Bacon's Abr. Marriage C., note. e 26 Geo. 2, c. 33. * See 6 & 7 Will. IV. c. 85. 1 Lee, 28; Vin. Abr. Baron and Feme. h Ibid. sect. 1. 11 Black. Com. 433. |