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ship; of the name of the firm; and of the place where the business is carried on: and that such board shall, on or before the 1st of March in every year, publish the same in some newspaper circulating either in the town or county.

Another Act which affects banks is the Companies Act, 1862 (25 & 26 Vict. c. 89), to our general account of which (as amended by 30 & 31 Vict. c. 131) the reader is referred (f). These statutes relate, as we have seen, both to banks and other companies, and so far as their regu lations are not pointed exclusively at the former, an examination of what is there said will be sufficient. But the Act first named has regulations which concern banks exclusively, and of these it is proper here to take notice.

First, it is enacted, that no company or association consisting of more than ten persons shall be formed for the purpose of carrying on the business of banking, unless registered as a company under that Act, or formed in pursuance of some other Act or of letters-patent (g).

Secondly, that no banking company claiming to issue notes in the united kingdom, shall be entitled to limited liability in respect of such issue, but shall continue subject to unlimited liability in respect thereof; and if necessary the assets shall be marshalled for the benefit of the general creditors, and the members shall be liable for the whole amount of the issue in addition to the sum for which they would be liable as members of a limited company (h).

Thirdly, that every banking company existing at the date of the passing of the Act, which registers itself as a limited company, shall, at least thirty days previous to obtaining a certificate of registration with limited liability, give notice that it is intended so to register the same, to every person and partnership firm who have a banking (f) Vide sup. p. 20.

(g) 25 & 26 Vict. c. 89, s. 4.
(h) Sect. 182.

account with the company-such notice to be given in such manner as the Act directs.

We have also to mention the 27 & 28 Vict. c. 32, an Act passed in order to enable certain banking co-partnerships, discontinuing the issue of their own notes, to sue and be sued in the name of their public officer. And, finally, the 30 & 31 Vict. c. 29, to which we have made some reference in a former volume and which contains certain regulations with regard to the sale and purchase of the shares in joint-stock banking companies (¿).

(i) Vide sup. vol. II. p. 76.

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CHAPTER XV.

OF THE LAWS RELATING TO THE REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS, DEATHS, AND MARRIAGES.

THE registration of births, deaths, and marriages,-a practice so important in every country, for the authentication of the civil rights of individuals, and the promotion of many objects connected with the science of political economy, has been but recently introduced among us: though another species of registration, having reference to baptisms, burials, and marriages, had been long in use; and is, in regard to the two former ceremonies, still in force. It is to this more antient method, which, (as connected with the offices of the Church, and originally directed by the canon law,) may be termed the ecclesiastical, that we shall first advert; and our attention will next be directed to the new method of registering births, deaths, and marriages, which may be termed, by way of distinction from the former, the civil.

I. As to the ecclesiastical mode of registration.

This system is said to be coeval with the Protestant Church; having been first established by Cromwell, Lord Vicegerent, in the thirtieth year of Henry the eighth, 1538 (a). Various enactments for its confirmation were passed in succeeding reigns; and by a canon (b) in the time of James the first, still in force, and by several statutes, particularly 52 Geo. III. c. 146, further provisions were made for its regulation.

(a) Godolph. Abridg. 144.

(2) Canon 70, 1 Jac. 1, 1667.

This statute, so far as it relates to the registry of marriages, was repealed on the introduction of the civil method hereafter to be described; but it still remains in force as regards baptisms and burials (c), and provides, that registers of public and private baptisms and burials, solemnized according to the rites of the established Church, in any parish or chapelry in England, shall be made by the rector, vicar, curate or other officiating minister of the parish, in books of parchment or durable paper; wherein such particulars shall be inscribed,within seven days at the latest after the ceremony (d), and in such form and manner as in the schedule to the Act annexed are set forth (e).

In cases where the baptism or burial is performed in any place other than the parish church or churchyard, by a clergyman not being the rector, vicar or curate of the parish, he must transmit on that or the following day a certificate, that he has performed such ceremony, to the minister of the parish, who shall duly enter it among the parish registers (ƒ).

The books wherein such entries are made are to be carefully preserved by the officiating minister in a dry well-painted iron chest; and are not to be removed therefrom except for the purpose of making such entries, or other such specific purposes as mentioned in the Act (g).

An annual copy of the contents of these register books, certified by the minister, is to be transmitted by the churchwardens, by post, to the Registrar of the diocese (h); who is bound to make report to the bishop

(c) 6 & 7 Will. 4, c. 86, s. 1. See 16 & 17 Vict. c. 134, s. 8, in reference to the registration of such burials as are had in ground provided under the Burial Acts, (cited sup. p. 178, n.)

(d) 52 Geo. 3, c. 146, s. 3. (e) Sect. 1.

(f) Sect. 4. It is enacted, by 20 & 21 Vict. c. 81, s. 16, that this provision shall not apply where the ceremony of burial is performed in ground provided under the Burial Acts.

(g) 52 Geo. 3, c. 146, s. 5.

(4) The registrar of every vicar

whether he has duly received such copy or not (i). And alphabetical lists of the entries are directed to be made out by such registrar; which are to be open to public search at reasonable times upon payment of certain fees (k).

It has also been enacted, that any person who knowingly inserts any false entry into these registers or the certified copies, or who forges any part thereof, or wilfully destroys or injures the same, or knowingly certifies any fraudulent or defective copy, shall be guilty of felony: and he is liable to penal servitude for life, or not less than five years; or to imprisonment, with or without hard labour and solitary confinement, to the extent of two years (1).

The statute of George the third extends only to such burials as are performed according to the rites of the established Church, but by 16 & 17 Vict. c. 134, there are also provisions for the registration of such interments as take place in grounds provided by the Burial Acts (m); and now by 27 & 28 Vict. c. 97, for such as take place in any burial-ground in England whatever, the duty being (where not otherwise provided for) thrown on the company, body, or persons to whom such burial-ground belongs, and the register-books being directed to be sent from time to time to the registrar of the diocese.

II. Of the civil system of registration.

The above is a brief account of the ecclesiastical and more antient method of registration; but the entries thereby obtained were found in fact to be often both incomplete and inaccurate, and otherwise inadequate to the

general or diocese has also, by 7 & 8 Vict. c. 68, s. 2, to transmit a yearly report of his fees, &c. to a principal secretary of state.

(i) See 52 Geo. 3, c. 146, s. 14; 24 & 25 Vict. c. 98, ss. 36, 37; 27 & 28 Vict. c. 47.

(k) 52 Geo. 3, c. 146, s. 12. Sce Steele v. Williams, 8 Exch. 625. (7) 24 & 25 Vict. c. 98, ss. 36,

14.

(m) These Acts are cited sup. p. 178, n.

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