gistrar-General for preservation (a). Persons intending to marry may require the registrar to attend with the register-book at the solemnization of the marriage, on payment of a certain fee additional to those exigible in other cases (e).

§ 1154. When persons are convicted before a justice of the peace or a magistrate of having celebrated an irregular marriage (S), either of them may, and they are severally required, to enter the same in the register of the parish where the conviction takes place. And it is competent to either party to a marriage, which is established by decree of declarator of any competent court, to record the same in the register of the domicile of the parties or of their usual residence. The production of an extract of the conviction, or

. decree of declarator, is a sufficient warrant for such registration (9). The magistrate or clerk of court in which such conviction takes place and the clerk of the court in which such decree is pronounced, are required to give information thereof, in the statutory forin, to the registrar respectively of the parish in which the conviction takes place, or of the parish of the domicile or usual residence of the parties (h).

§ 1155. In case any of the parties whose signatures are required by the act are unable to write, they may sign by a cross or other mark, in presence of the registrar or Sheriff, or of two witnesses, who must adhibit their designations to their subscriptions; and such mark is as effectual as a proper signature (1).

§ 1156. When any additions or alterations competent under the act are made on any register, the registrar shall make a minute in duplicate of such alterations, and deliver one of the duplicates to the Sheriff, with the relative documents; and the Sheriff shall, if necessary, inquire into the accuracy of the facts therein set forth, and, if they are erroneous, correct the minute. The duplicate minutes are then examined and authenticated by the Sheriff; one is retained by the registrar, and the other is transmitted to the Registrar-General; and such minutes are to be deemed and taken as part of the registers, and to be given effect to on or opposite to the relative entries in the duplicate registers previously transmitted (k).

$ 1157. If the duplicate register in the custody of any registrar

(d) 17 and 18 Vict., c. 80, 246.

(e) Same act, 2 47. (f) In some districts the parties to an irregular marriage appear before a magistrate or justice of peace under a pretended criminal complaint, and confess the marriage, whereupon they are fined, and a record of the procedure is preserved. (9) 17 and 18 Vict., c. 80, $48.

(h) Same act, % 49, sch. K. (i) Same act, 8 72, sch. B.

(k. Same act, & 54.

shall be lost, destroyed, or mutilated, or shall have become illegible in whole or part, he shall forth with communicate the fact to the Registrar-General, who shall require the said register to be transmitted to him; and shall thereupon apply by petition to the Court of Session, in the terms set forth in the statute, to have the register restored; and the Court, on being satisfied on the matter, and after such intimation as they may think proper, shall order such register to be corrected or completed at the sight of the Registrar-General, and to be authenticated by him ; whereupon it shall become of the same force and validity as the original duplicate (1). The act also provides machinery for having errors in any register corrected under authority of the Sheriff after examinations on oath ; the particulars regarding every such correction being also entered in a separate book, called the "Register of Corrected Errors," and a copy of the entry being transmitted to the Registrar-General, if the duplicate has been previously sent to him. The Register of Corrected Errors is also to be transmitted to the Registrar-General annually, along with the duplicate of the register (m). But any errors committed in the form or substance of any entry may be corrected according to the truth of the case before the entry is signed. Correction by deletion must be made by drawing a line through the erroneous words or figures (but so as to leave them legible), and must be authenticated by the registrar affixing his signature thereto (n).

$ 1158. The statute provides for the genuineness and truth of the registers and relative documents, by introducing punishments by transportation or imprisonment in the case of persons wilfully destroying, obliterating, or otherwise injuring entries in the register and relative documents, or falsely making or counterfeiting any part of them, or knowingly causing to be inserted any false_statemnent, or wilfully giving any false certificate or extract touching any birth, death, or marriage (o).1

$ 1159. In order to facilitate the searching of the registers,

(1) 17 and 18 Vict., c. 80, 2 55. (n) Same act, 2 64.

(m) Same act, & 63.
(0) Same act, 2 62.

! In the first prosecution which occurred under the act the panel was dismissed from the bar, the public prosecutor declining to move for sentence; H. M. Adv. v. David Greig, 2 Irv., 357; but in H. M. Adv. v. Askew, 2 Irv., 491, the panel, for a contravention of the act, by making a false entry in the register of births, was sentenced to twelve months imprisonment. The indictment ought to set forth the entry alleged to be false and fictitious ; ib., 493, per Lord Justice-Clerk (Ilope).

tabular alphabetical indexes are directed to be made by every registrar, and to be accessible at all reasonable hours to parties who may search the same, on payment of certain fees (p).

§ 1160. Extracts of entries in these registers, authenticated as afterwards mentioned (r), are admissible in evidence in all parts of Her Majesty's dominions (s).

After the foregoing statement as to the care with which the registers require to be prepared and preserved, it need hardly be added that they will be records of very high trustworthiness. But, neither by the Registration Act, nor according to legal principle, are they probatio probata of the facts which they record. The registers of births and deaths, being merely an authenticated statement by the persons who furnish the information to the registrar, will not exclude contradictory evidence on the matters set forth; while the register of marriages may be impugned, not only on such grounds as forgery, collusion, force, or pupillarity, but also on the ground of any errors which may be detected by comparing it with the original returns preserved in the General Registry Office.2

CHAPTER IX.-OTHER OFFICIAL REGISTERS.

Besides the important registers which have thus been explained, the law of Scotland admits a number of minor records of a public or official character.

§ 1161. The books of a burgh are admissible to prove facts of which they are the proper record. Thus they have been held to be

(p) 17 and 18 Vict., c. 80, 2 56. ? 1249, et seq.

(r) See chapters on Extracts, infra,

(s) 17 and 18 Vict., c. 80, 2 58.

2 Further provision for registration of births, deaths, &c., is made by the 18 Vict., c. 29, and by the Registration of Births, &c. (Scotland) Act, 1860, 23 and 24 Vict., c. 85. By section 2 of the latter act, it is provided that a book, to be called "the Register of Neglected Entries," shall be kept in the General Register Office, in which it shall be competent for any person to require the registrar to enter any birth, death, or marriage, which has taken place in Scotland between the 31st December 1800 and the 1st January 1855, on a warrant by the Sheriff (granted on a petition, and after proof) to that effect being produced. Section 2 provides for the correction of errors in registers kept prior to 1st January 1855.

not only admissible, but necessary, to prove the res gesta at the election of magistrates (a), and whether certain persons were members of council (6). And the appointment of the burgh officers may be proved by minutes entered in the burgh books (c). In one case parole was held to be inadmissible, when tendered in contradiction of the minute prepared by the clerk to an incorporation of a royal burgh, the object being to prove that the clerk had erroneously entered certain votes (d). As, however, the objection had

d) been taken at the time, but had not been insisted in before the meeting broke up, the question as to the admissibility of parole did not arise purely; and the observations made on the Bench show that their Lordships avoided deciding whether they would have interfered, if the party had insisted at the time that the alleged error should be corrected.

$ 1162. Cess books are official registers, which the collector is bound to produce or exhibit, as the Court may direct, in actions between private persons; and entries in them were admissible in questions as to qualifications to vote before the Reform Act (e).1

(a) Gardner v. Reekie, 1828, 4 Mur., 438.

(6) Black v. Campbell, 1819, 5 Dow, 23.

(c) Hunter v. Hill, 1833, 11 S., 989. (d) Ogilvy v. Mag. of Edinburgh, 6th Feb. 1810, F. C. (e) Mackintosh v. Mackintosh, 1829, 8 S., 184.

1 By the 17 and 18 Vict., c. 91, % 1, the Commissioners of Supply are directed annually to cause to be made up a Valuation Roll showing the yearly rent or value for the time of the whole lands and heritages within the counties and burghs of Scotland. The roll is to be authenticated in counties by the signature of the convener, or other person authorised by the Commissioners; in burghis by the signature of the provost, or other person authorised by the magistrates. Section 30 provides that no valuation of lands or heritages shall be rendered void or be affected by reason of any mistake or variance in the names of such lands or heritages, or in the christian or surname or designatiou of any proprietor or tenant or occupier thereof, nor be challengeable by reason of any informality in the proceedings for making up the roll. Section 34 enacts that, in all questions relating to the franchise before any Registration or Appeal Court, the entry in the roll shall be conclusive proof that the gross yearly value or rent of the lands and heritages specified are correctly stated in the roll. The 19 and 20 Vict., C. 58, ? 17 (Burgh Voters), while making the roll prima facie evidence in all proceedings under the act, provides that it shall be competent to prove that the specified lands or heritages are, or have been, of a greater or less annual value than the value stated in the roll. The Annual Register of Voters, made up as authorised by the act, is declared by 44 to be conclusive evidence, at every future election of a Member of Parliament for the burgh or burghs, that the persons therein named “ continue to have the qualifications which are annexed to their names.” The 24 and 25 Vict., c. 83, contains similar provisions for the registration of voters in counties. In Leith v. Leith, 1862, 24 D., 1059, it was held, in a question between the heir of entail and the younger children, as to the amount of their provisions, that the valuation roll did not afford conclusive proof of the value of the home farin, which was not let; and the Court remitted to a landvaluator to report.

$ 1163. Books kept at Government offices, as the War Office (S), the office of the Board of Inland Revenue (g), and Board of Customs (1), are admissible to prove facts within their proper purposes (1).

$ 1164. The log-book of a man-of-war is admissible to prove a storm, or the separation of merchant vessels from their convoy, and similar facts of which it is the official record (k). But the log of a private vessel, although it may be used to refresh the memory of witnesses, has been held not to be admissible as an official record; because it is merely the statement of the master and mate, who are private persons (1). Yet it may be used as an admission made by parties representing the owners; and it has been ruled that the latter are not entitled to impugn the statements which it contains, when these are to their prejudice (m).

$ 1165. The official books of a prison are sufficient proof of the time of each prisoner's entry and discharge (n); but it was held in England that the cause of commitment, not being an essential part of the register, must be proved by other evidence (6). Parole has been received of the fact that a prisoner had undergone his sentence, the point occurring in an objection to his competency as a witness (p). It has been held in England that a book containing a record of the marriages celebrated at the Fleet Prison is inadmissible, being a private unauthorised register (r).

$ 1166. The books of the Bank of England are admissible as an official register, to prove transfers of stock and other matters falling within their sphere (s).

§ 1167. The register kept at Stationers' Hallis prima facie

a

(f) See Kay v. Roger, 1836, 10 S., 831.

(9) See Dunbar 1. Harvie, 1820, 2 Bligh, 351.

(h) Tomlins v. Attorney-General, 1813, 1 Dow, 404. (e) The privilege of public boards to refuse access to their documents is noticed, 2 1845, et seq.

(k) Watson v. King, 1815, 4 Camp., 275—D’Israeli v. Jowett, 1795, 1 Esp., 427.

(1) Wright v. Liddell, 1829, 5 Mur., 36-Innes v. Glass, 1827, 4 ib., 164–Cairns v. Kippen, 1828, 1 Bell's Com., 612, note 5; correcting Carleton v. Strong, 1816, 1 Mur., 27.

(m) Campbell v. Fryson, 1841, 4 D., 342, per L. Pres. Boyle. This ruling may be questioned as a general doctrine of law.

(n) R. v. Aickes, 1785, 1 Lea. C. C., 391–Salte v. Thomas, 1824, 3 Bos, and Pull., 188. (0) Salte v. Thomas, supra.

(p) Aitchison v. Patrick, 1836, 15 S., 360.

(r) Read r. Passer, 1794, 1 Esp., 213. There is some conflict in the previous cases.

(8) Marsh v. Colnett, 1798, 2 Esp., 665—Breton v. Cope, 1791, Pea. Ca., 30—2 Phill., 115—Taylor, 1158. As to the books of private banking companies, see infra, & 1179.

2 The copyright in photographs is secured by 25 and 26 Vict., c. 86, and in the