Births and Deaths Registration Act 1926

12 Definitions. E+W

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires—

• “Prescribed” means prescribed by the Registrar-General with the concurrence of [F1 the Secretary of State];

• “Registrar” means, with respect to any death or birth the registrar who is the registrar for the sub-district in which the death or birth takes place;

• “disposal” means disposal by burial, cremation or any other means, and “disposed of” has a corresponding meaning;

• “person effecting the disposal” means the person by whom or whose officer the register of burials in which the disposal is to be registered is kept, except that in the case of a burial under the M1 Burial Laws Amendment Act 1880 in the churchyard or graveyard of a parish or ecclesiastical district the expression “person effecting the disposal” shall be construed as referring to the relative, friend, or legal representative having charge of or being responsible for the burial of the deceased person;

• “still-born” and “still-birth” shall apply to any child which has issued forth from its mother after the [F2 twenty-fourth week] of pregnancy and which did not at any time after being completely expelled from its mother, breathe or show any other signs of life.

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in s. 12 substituted (3.4.2008) by Transfer of Functions (Registration) Order 2008 (S.I. 2008/678), art. 1(2), Sch. 2 para. 3(3) (with art. 4)

F2 Words in s. 12 substituted (1.10.1992) by Still-Birth (Definition) Act 1992 (c. 29), ss. 1(1), 4(2)

Modifications etc. (not altering text)

C1 S. 12 transfer of functions (3.4.2008) by Transfer of Functions (Registration) Order 2008 (S.I. 2008/678), art. 1(2), Sch. 1 para. 3(b) (with art. 4)

Marginal Citations

M1 1880 c. 41.