Births and Deaths Registration Act 1953

34 Entry in register as evidence of birth or death. E+W

(1) The following provisions of this section shall have effect in relation to entries in registers under this Act or any enactment repealed by this Act.

(2) An entry or a certified copy of an entry of a birth or death in a register, or in a certified copy of a register, shall not be evidence of the birth or death unless the entry purports to be signed by some person professing to be the informant and to be such a person as might be [F1 required or permitted by law] at the date of the entry to give to the registrar information concerning that birth or death:

Provided that this subsection shall not apply—

(a) in relation to an entry of a birth which, not being an entry signed by a person professing to be a superintendent registrar, purports to have been made with the authority of the Registrar General; or

(b) in relation to an entry of a death which purports to have been made upon a certificate from a coroner; or

(c) in relation to an entry of a birth or death which purports to have been made in pursuance of the enactments with respect to the registration of births and deaths at sea.

[F2 (d) in relation to the re–registration of a birth under section 9(5) of this Act].

(3) Where more than three months have intervened between the date of the birth of any child or the date when any living new–born child [F3 or still–born child] was found exposed and the date of the registration of the birth of that child, the entry or a certified copy of the entry of the birth of the child in the register, or in a certified copy of the register, shall not be evidence of the birth unless—

[F4 (a) if it appears that not more than 12 months have so intervened—

(i) the original entry was made after the commencement of paragraph 7 of Schedule 6 to the Welfare Reform Act 2009, or

(ii) the entry purports either to be signed by the superintendent registrar as well as by the registrar or to have been made with the authority of the Registrar General;]

(b) if more than twelve months have so intervened, the entry purports to have been made with the authority of the Registrar General:

Provided that this subsection shall not apply in any case where the original entry in the register was made before the first day of January, eighteen hundred and seventy–five.

(4) Where more than twelve months have intervened between the date of the death or of the finding of the dead body of any person and the date of the registration of that person’s death, the entry or a certified copy of the entry of the death in the register, or in a certified copy of the register, shall not be evidence of the death unless the entry purports to have been made with the authority of the Registrar General:

Provided that this subsection shall not apply in any case where the original entry in the register was made before the first day of January, eighteen hundred and seventy–five.

(5) A certified copy of an entry in a register or in a certified copy of a register shall be deemed to be a true copy notwithstanding that it is made on a form different from that on which the original entry was made if any differences in the column headings under which the particulars appear in the original entry and the copy respectively are differences of form only and not of substance.

(6) The Registrar General shall cause any certified copy of an entry given in the General Register Office to be sealed or stamped with the seal of that Office; and, subject to the foregoing provisions of this section, any certified copy of an entry purporting to be sealed or stamped with the said seal shall be received as evidence of the birth or death to which it relates without any further or other proof of the entry, and no certified copy purporting to have been given in the said Office shall be of any force or effect unless it is sealed or stamped as aforesaid.

Textual Amendments

F1 Words substituted by Family Law Reform Act 1987 (c. 42, SIF 49:7), s. 33(1), Sch. 2 para. 17

F2 S. 34(2)(d) added by Children Act 1975 (c. 72), Sch. 3 para. 13(5)(a)

F3 Words inserted by Children Act 1975 (c. 72), Sch. 3 para. 13(5)(b)

F4 S. 34(3)(a) substituted (28.5.2012) by Welfare Reform Act 2009 (c. 24), s. 61(3), Sch. 6 para. 14; S.I. 2012/1256, art. 2(2)(b)

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 S. 34(5)(6) extended with modifications by S.I. 1982/1526, art. 2, Sch. 1 Pts. I, II, III

C2 S. 34(5) applied (4.4.2005) by Gender Recognition Act 2004 (c. 7), s. 26, Sch. 3 para. 10(1); S.I. 2005/54, art. 2

C3 S. 34(5) applied (1.10.2014) by Presumption of Death Act 2013 (c. 13), s. 22(2), Sch. 1 para. 3(5) (with s. 21); S.I. 2014/1810, art. 2