THE LORD CHANCELLOR, in moving the second reading of this Bill, said their Lordships were aware that among the documents admitted in evidence in our courts of law the registers of births, deaths, and marriages, were in many cases exceedingly important and useful; as they were also on other occasions. Until 1837, however, no entries of this kind were admissible in evidence, except those contained in the parochial registers. In that year a registrar-general was appointed, and provision was made for registering births and deaths. But various religious bodies 1440 of different denominations were under this disadvantage—that their registers, which they had preserved with great care, were not admissible in evidence, according to the then existing law, prior to 1837. In 1836 a Commission was issued for the purpose of ascertaining the state and custody of the registers of those various bodies, and of authenticating them and placing them in proper custody, so that they might be put upon the footing of other similar registers. The Commission examined 8,500 registers. An Act of Parliament was passed in 1840, which provided for their being placed in the custody and care of the registrar-general, and for their being admitted in evidence under certain conditions. In 1857 the Commission of 1836 was renewed, and an investigation was again made into the state of the registers belonging to various religious bodies. Registers which had not been previously to the number of 262, containing 154,000 entries, were examined, and this Bill was intended to place them upon the same footing as registers affected by the former Act. The measure was one to which he conceived no objection could be made, and therefore he asked their Lordships to allow it to be read a second time.
§ Bill read 2a (according to Order) and committed to a Committee of the whole House To-morrow.