CHAP. 181.—An ACT to provide for the immediate registration of all births
and deaths throughout the State of Virginia, by means of certificates
of births and deaths, and burial or removal permits; to require prompt
returns to the bureau of vital statistics at the capital of the State, as
required to be established by the State board of health; to insure the
thorough organization and eflicicncy of the registration of vital sta-
tistics throuzhout the State; to provide certain penalties; to repeal all
acts and parts of acts in conflict herewith.

Approved March 12, 1912.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That
the State board of health shall have charge of the registration of
births and deaths, shall prepare the necessary instructions, forms
and blanks for obtaining and preserving such records and shall
insure the faithful registration of the same in each local registra-
tion district as constituted in section three of this act, and in the
central bureau of vital statistics at the capital of the State. The
said board shall be charged with the uniform and thorough en-
forcement of the law throughout the State, and shall from time
to time promulgate any additional forms and amendments that
may be necessary for this purpose.

2. That the health commissioner shall be State registrar of
vital statistics, and shall have general supervision over the cen-
tral bureau of vital statistics, which is hereby authorized to be
established by said board. The State board of health shall pro-
vide suitable apartments for the bureau of vital statistics in the
State capitol at Richmond, which shall be properly equipped
with fire-proof vault and filing cases for the permanent and safe
preservation of all official records made and returned under this
act.

3. That for the purposes of this act the State shall be di-
vided into registration districts as follows: Each city, town and
magisterial district shall constitute a registration district, pro-
vided that the State registrar may combine two or more regis-
tration districts into one registration district.

4. That in cities and towns the principal executive officer of
the local board of health shall be the local registrar of vital sta-
tistics, and that in each magisterial district each justice of the
peace shall be a local registrar of vital statistics for that portion
of the district which the State registrar shall designate. Any
local registrar who fails or neglects to discharge efficiently the
duties of his office as laid down in this act, or who fails to make
prompt and complete returns of births and deaths, as required
thereby, shall be forthwith removed from his office of registrar
by the State board of health, and his successor appointed, in ad-
dition to any other penalties that may be imposed under other
sections of this act for failure or neglect to perform his duty.

Each local registrar shall, immediately upon his acceptance
of appointment as such, appoint a deputy, whose duty it shall
be to act in his stead in case of absence, illness or disability, who
shall in writing accept such appointment, and who shall be sub-
ject to all rules and regulations governing local registrars. And
when it may appear necessary for the convenience of the people
in any magisterial district, the local registrar shall, upon the re-
quest of the State registrar, appoint one or more suitable persons
to act as sub-registrar, who shall be authorized to receive cer-
tificates and to issue burial or removal permits in and for such
portions of the district as may be designated; and each sub-reg-
istrar shall note, over his signature, the date on which each cer-
tificate was filed, and shall forward all certificates to the local
registrar of the district within ten days, and in all cases before
the third day of the following month; provided, that all sub-
registrars shall be subject to the supervision and control of the
State registrar, and may be by him removed for neglect or fail-
ure to perform their duties in accordance with the provisions of
this act or the rules and regulations of the State registrar, and
they shall be liable to the same penalties for neglect of duties as
the local registrar.

5. That the body of any person whose death occurs in the
State shall not be interred, deposited in a vault or tomb, cre-
mated or otherwise disposed of, or removed from or into any
registration district or be held pending further disposition more
than seventy-two hours after death, until a permit for burial, re-
moval or other disposition thereof shall have been properly issued
by the local registrar (or his deputy) of the registration district
in which the death occurred; provided, that in sparsely settled
districts or when it is impracticable, to file a death certificate and
obtain a burial or removal permit, a body may be buried or re-
moved from such district without a permit, but a certificate of
death shall be filed with the registrar within ten davs, such
sparsely settled districts to be designated by the secretary of the
county board of health. No such burial or removal permit shall
be issued by any registrar until a complete and satisfactory certi-
ficate of death has been filed with him as hereinafter provided;
except, as above set forth, that when a dead body is brought into
the State for burial, the transit permit which accompanies such
body shall be filed with the local registrar of the district where
burial or other disposition of said body takes place; and the
registrar shall note date and place of burial on such permit,
and forward same to the State registrar. No fee shall be re-
quired for the issue of burial or removal permits in this State.
In incorporated cities, certificates of death shall be obtained and
burial or removal permits issued according to the ordinances of
such city.

6. That stillborn children and those dead at birth shall be
registered as births and also as deaths, and a certificate of both
the birth and death shall be filed with the local registrar, in
the usual form and manner, the certificate of birth to contain,
in place of the name of the child, the word “stillbirth.” The
medical certificate of the cause of death shall be signed by the
attending physician, if any, and shall state the cause of death
as “stillborn,” with the cause of the stillbirth, if known, whether
a premature birth, and, if born prematurely, the period of ute-
rine gestation, in months, if known; and a burial or removal
permit in the usual form shall be required. Midwives shall
not sign certificates of death for stillborn children; but such
cases, and stillbirths occurring without attendance of either phy-
sician or midwife, shall be treated as deaths without medical
attendance, as provided for in section eight of this act.

7. That the certificate of death shall be of the United States
standard form as approved by the bureau of census and shall
contain the following items:

(1) Place of death, including state, county, township, city,
the ward, street and house number. If in a hospital or other in-
stitution, the name of the same to be given instead of the street
and house number. If in an industrial camp, the name of the
camp to be given. |

(2) Full name of decedent. If an unnamed child, the sur-
name preceded by “unnamed.”

(3) Sex. ;

(4) Color or race, as white, black (negro or negro descent),
Indian, Chinese, Japanese, or other.

(5) Conjugal condition, as single, married, widowed or di-
vorced.

(6) Date of birth, including the year, month, and day.

(7) Age, in years, months and days. If less than one day,
the hours and minutes.

(8) Occupation to be reported of any person who had any
remunerative employment: women as well as men, stating (a)
trade, profession, or particular kind of work; (b) general na-
ture of industry, business or establishment in which employed
(or employer).

(9) Birthplace; State or foreign country.

(10) Name of father.

(11) Birthplace of father; State or foreign country.

(12) Maiden name of mother.

(13) Birthplace of mother; State or foreign country.

(14) Name and address of informant.
(15) Official signature of registrar, with the date when cer-
tificate was filed, and registered number.

(16) Date of death, year, month and day.

(17) Statement of medical attendance or decedent, fact and
time of death, time last seen alive, and the cause of death, with
contributory cause (secondary) or complication, if any, and du-
ration of each, and if attributed to dangerous or unsanitary con-
ditions of employment; signature and address of physician or
official making the medical certificate.

(18) Length of residence (for hospitals, institutions, tran-
sients or recent residents) at place of death or in the State.

(19) Place of burial or removal; date of burial.

(20) Signature and address of undertaker.

The personal and statistical particulars (items 1 to 13) shall
give the name and address of the informant, who may be any
competent person acquainted with the facts.

The statement of facts relating to the disposition of the body
shall be signed by the undertaker or person acting as such.

The medical certificate shall be made and signed by the phy-
sician, if any, last in attendance on the deceased, who shall spe-
cify the time in attendance, the time he last saw the deceased
alive and the hour of the day at which death occurred. And he
shall further state the cause of death, so as to show the course of
the disease or sequence of causes resulting in the death, giving
first the name of the disease causing death (primary cause), and
the contributory (secondary) cause, if any, and the duration of
each. Indefinite and unsatisfactory terms, indicating only symp-
toms of disease or conditions resulting from disease, will not be
held sufficient for issuing a burial or removal permit; and any
certificate containing such terms as defined by the State regis-
trar shall be returned to the physician for correction and more
definite statement. Causes of death, which may be the result
of either disease or violence, shall be carefully defined; and, if
from violence, the means of injury shall be stated, and whether
(probably) accidental, suicidal, homicidal. And in deaths in hos-
pitals, institutions, or of non-residents, the physician shall fur-
nish the information required under this head (item 18), and
may state where, in his opinion, the disease was contracted.

8. That in case of death occurring without medical attend-
ance, it shall be the duty of the undertaker or other person act-
ing as such to notify the. local registrar of such death, and
when so notified the registrar shall inform the nearest member
of the county board of health and refer the case to him for im-
mediate investigation and certification, prior to issuing the per-
mit; provided, that if such member of the county board of
health does not within twenty-four hours certify such death,
and in such cases only, the registrar is authorized to make the
certificate and return from the statement of relatives or other
persons having adequate knowledge of the facts; provided, fur-
ther, that if the death is caused by unlawful or suspicious means,
the registrar shall then refer the case to the coroner for his in-
vestigation and certification. And any coroner whose duty it
is to hold an inquest on the body of any deceased person, and to
make the certificate of death required for burial permits, shall
state in his certificate the name of the disease causing death,
or if from external causes, (1) the means of death; (2) whether
(probably) accidental, suicidal, or homicidal; and shall in either
case, furnish such information as may be required by the State
registrar in order properly to classify the death.

9. The undertaker, or person acting as undertaker, shall be
responsible for obtaining and filing-the certificate of death with
the local registrar of the district in which the death occurs,
and for securing a burial or removal permit, prior to any dis-
position of the body, except as otherwise provided in this act.
He shall obtain the personal and statistical particulars require-
ed from the person best qualified to supply them, giving the
name and address of his informant. He shall then present the
certificate to the attendant physician, if any, or to the health
officer or coroner, as directed by the local registrar, for the medi-
cal certificate of the cause of death and other particulars neces-
sary to complete the record as specified in sections seven and
eight. And he shall then state the facts required relative to the
date and place of burial, over his signature and with his ad-
dress, and present the completed certificate to the local registrar
in order to obtain a permit for burial, removal or other dispo-
sition of the body. The undertaker shall deliver the burial per-
mit to the sexton, or person in charge of the place of burial, be-
fore interring or otherwise disposing of the body; or he shall
dispose of the transit permit as provided by law for the trans-
portation of corpses in this State when shipped by a trans-
portation company; said permit to accompany the corpse to its
desired destination, and if the burial shall take place within
the State of Virginia, the removal permit shall be delivered to
the sexton or other person in charge of the place of burial.

10. That if the interment or other disposition of the body, is
to be made within the State, the wording of the burial permit
may be limited to a statement by the registrar, and over his sig-
nature, that a satisfactory certificate of death having been filed
with him, as required by law, permission is granted to inter,
remove, or otherwise dispose of the deceased, stating the name,
agre, sex, cause of death, and other necessary details, upon the
form prescribed bythe State registrar.

11. And each sexton or person in charge of any burial ground
shall indorse upon the permit the date of interment, over his sig-
nature, and shall return all permits so endorsed to the local regis-
trar of his district within ten days from date of interment, or
Within the time fixed by the local board of health. Every sex-
ton of a public cemetery shall keep a record of all interments
made in the premises under his charge, stating the name of the
deceased person, place of death, date of burial, and name and
address of the undertaker or person acting as such.

12. That all births that occur in the State shall be immedi-
ately registered in the districts in which they occur, as herein-
after provided.

13. That it shall be the duty of the attending physician or
midwife to file a certificate of birth, properly. and completely
filled out, giving all the particulars required by this act, with
the local registrar of the district in which the birth occurs,
within ten days after date of birth. And if there be no attend-
ing physician or midwife, then it shall be the duty of the father
or mother of the child, householder or owner ot the premises,
manager or superintendent of public or private institution in
which the birth occurred, to notify the local registrar, within
ten days after birth, of the fact that the birth had occurred. It
shall then be the duty of the local registrar to secure the neces-
sary information and signature to make a proper certificate of
birth; provided, that in cities the certificate of birth shall be
filed at a less interval than ten days after birth, if so required
by the municipal ordinance (or regulations) now in force, or.
that may hereafter be enacted.

14. That the certificate of birth shall contain the following
items:

(1) Place of birth, including State, county, magisterial dis-
trict, town or city. : If in a city, the ward street, and house num-
ber; if in a hospital or other institution, the name of the same to
be given, instead of street and house number.

(2) Full name of child. If the child dies without a name
before the certificate is filed, enter the words ‘‘died unnamed.”
If the living child has not yet been named at the date of filing
certificate of birth, the space for ‘full name of child” is to be
left blank, to be filled out subsequently by supplemental report,
as hereinafter provided.

(3) Sex of child.

(4) Whether a twin, triplet or other plural birth. A sepa-
rate certificate shall be required for each child in case of plural
birth, giving number of child, in order of birth.

(5) Whether legitimate or illegitimate.

(6) Full name of father, except for illegitimate children.

(7) Residence of father.

(8) Color or race of father.

(9) Birthplace of father; State or foreign country.

(10) Age of father at last birthday, in year.

11. Occupation of father.

(12) Maiden name of mother.

(13) Residence of mother.

(14) Color or race of mother.

(15) Birthplace of mother; State or foreign country.

(16) Age of mother at last birthday, in year.

(17) Occupation of mother.
(18) Number of child of this mother, and number of children
of this mother now living.

(19) Born at full term?

(20) The certificate of attending physician or midwife as to
attendance at birth, including statement of year, month, day and
hour of birth, and whether the child was alive or dead at birth.
This certificate shall be signed by the attending physician or mid-
wife, with date of signature and address; if there is no physician
or midwife in attendance, then the father or mother of the child,
household or owner of the premises, or manager or superinten-
dent of public or private institutions, or other competent per-
son, whose duty it shall be to notify the local registrar of such
birth, as required by section thirteen of this act.

(21) Exact date of filing in office of local registrar, attested
by his official signature, and registered number of birth, as here-
inafter provided.

All certificates, either of birth or death, shall be written
legibly, in unfading black ink, and no certificate shall be held to
be complete and correct that does not supply all of the items of
information called for herein, or satisfactorily account for their
omission.

15. That when any certificate of birth of a living child is
presented without the statement of the given name, then the
local registrar shall make out and deliver to the parents of the
child a special blank for the supplemental report of the given
name of the child, which shall be filled out as directed, and re-
turned to the local registrar as soon as the child shall have been
named.

16. That all superintendents or managers, or other persons in
charge of hospitals, almshouses, lying-in or other institutions,
public or private, to which persons resort for treatment of dis-
ease, confinement, or are committed by process of law are hereby
required to make a record of all of the personal and statistical
particulars relative to the inmates in their institutions at the
date of the approval of this act, that are required in the forms
of the certificate provided for by this act, as directed by the
State registrar; and hereafter such records shall be, by them,
made for all future inmates at the time of their admission. And
in case of persons admitted or committed for medical treatment
of disease, the physician in charge shall specify for entry in the
record, the nature of the disease, and where, in his opinion, it
was contracted. The personal particulars and information re-
quired by this section shall be obtained from the individual him-
self if it is practicable to do so; and when they cannot be ob-
tained, they shall be secured in as complete a manner as possible
from relatives, friends, or other persons acquainted with the
facts.

17. That the State registrar shall prepare, print, and supply
to all registrars all blanks and forms used in registering, record-
ing and preserving the returns, or in otherwise carrying out the
purpose of this act; and shall prepare and issue such detail in-
structions as may be required to secure the uniform observance
of its provisions and the maintenance of a perfect system of reg-
istration. And no other blanks shall be used than those supplied
by the State registrar. He shall carefully examine these cer-
tificates received monthly from the local registrars, and if any
such are incomplete or unsatisfactory he shall require such fur-
ther information to be furnished as may be necessary to make
the record complete and satisfactory. And all physicians, mid-
wives, informants, or undertakers, and all other persons having
knowledge of the facts, are hereby required to furnish such in-
formation as they may possess regarding any birth or death, upon
demand of the State registrar, in person, by mail, or through the
local registrar. He shall further arrange, bind and permanently
preserve the certificates in a systematic manner, and shall pre-
pare and maintain a comprehensive and continuous card index
of all births and deaths registered; the cards to show the name
of child or deceased, place and date of birth or death, nuniber
of certificate, and the volume in which it is contained. He shall
inform all registrars what diseases are to be considered as infec-
tious, contagious, or communicable or dangerous to the pullic
health, as decided by the State board of health, in order that
when death occurs from such diseases, proper precautions may
be taken to prevent the spreading of dangerous diseases.

18. That it shall be the duty of the local registrars to sup-
ply blank forms of certificates to such persons as require them.
Each local registrar shall carefully examine each certificate of
birth or death when presented for record, to see that it has been
made out in accordance with the provisions of this act, and the
instructions of the State registrar, and if any certificate of
death is incomplete or unsatisfactory, it shall be his duty to
call attention to the defects in the return, and to withhold
issuing the burial or removal permit until they are corrected
or satisfactorily explained. If the certificate of death is exe-
cuted as herein provided, he shall then issue a burial or removal
permit; provided, that in case the death occurred from some
disease that is held by the State board of health to be infectious,
contagious, or communicable and dangerous to the public
health, no permit for the removal or other disposition of the
body shall be granted by the registrar, except under such con-
ditions as may be prescribed by law. If a certificate of birth
is incomplete, he shall immediately notify the informant, and
require him to supply the missing items if they can be obtained.
He shall then number consecutively the certificates of birth and
death, in two separate series, giving dates of each birth and
death, beginning with the number one for the first birth and the
first death in each calendar year, and sign his name as registrar
in attest of the date of filing in his oftice. He shall also make
a complete and accurate copv of each birth and death certi-
ficate registered by him in a record book, supplied by the State
registrar, and the local registrar of every district located in
any county shall, within fifteen days after the end of each
calendar year, transmit such record book to the county clerk’s
office of his county and shall take a receipt from the clerk
therefor, which receipt shall be transmitted to the State re-
gistrar. Said record book shall be preserved by the clerk as
a permanent record. And the local registrar shall, on the tenth
day of each month transmit to the State registrar all original
certificates, registered by him, during the preceding month. And
If no births or deaths occur in any month, he shall, on the tenth
day of the following month report that fact to the State registrar
on a card provided for this purpose.

19. That each local registrar shall be paid the sum of twenty-
five cents for each birth certificate and each death certificate
properly made out and registered with him, correctly recorded
and promptly returned by him to the State registrar, as re-
quired by this act, and in case no births or deaths were regis-
tered during any month, the local registrar shall be entitled
to be paid the sum of twenty-five cents for a report to that effect,
but if only if properly made in accordance with this act. All
amounts payable to a registrar under the provisions of this sec-
tion shall be paid by the treasurer of the city, town or county
in which the registration district is located, upon certification
by the State registrar. And the State registrar shal] annually
certify to the treasurers of the several cities, towns and counties
the number of births and deaths properly registered, with the
names of the local registrars and the amounts due each at the
rate fixed herein, provided, that the council of any city may by
ordinance, in lieu of fees, provide for the compensation of the
local registrar for such city by salary; provided, further, that the
State registrar shall make no certification of fees due until
a receipt from the county clerk for the record books of the year
shall have been received by him from the local registrar, and
provided, further, that the fees or salaries now paid the princi-
pal executive officer of the local board of health of any city or
town, who shall become the local registrar of such city or town
under the provisions of this act, shall be in lieu of all compen-
sation or fees as herein provided.

20. That the State registrar shall, upon request, furnish
any applicant a certified copy of the record of any birth or
death registered under provisions of this act, for the making
and certification of which he shall be entitled to a fee of fifty
cents, to be paid by the applicant, and any such copy of the record
of a birth or death, when properly certified by the State regis-
trar to be a true copy thereof shall be prima facie evidence in
all courts and places of the facts therein stated. For any search
of the files and records when no certified copy is made, the State
registrar shall be entitled to a fee of fifty cents for each hour or
fractional part of an hour of time of search, to be paid by the
applicant. And the State registrar shall keep a true and correct
account of all fees by him received under these provisions, and
turn same over to the State treasurer.

21. That any physician who was in medical attendance upon
any deceased person at the time of death who shall wilfully neg-
lect or refuse to make out and deliver to the undertaker, sexton,
or other person in charge of the interment, removal, or other dis-
position of the body, upon request, the medical certificate of the
cause of death, hereinbefore provided for, shall be deemed guilty
of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereot, shall be fined not
less than five dollars nor more than fifty dollars. And if any
physician shall knowingly make a false certification of the cause
of death, in any case, he shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor,
and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not less than fifty dol-
lars nor more than two hundred dollars.

And any physician or midwife in attendance upon a case of
confinement, or any other person charged with responsibility for
reporting births, in the order named in section thirteen of this
act, who shall wilfully neglect or refuse to file a proper certificate
of birth with the local registrar, within the time required by this
act, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon con-
viction thereof, shall be fined not less than one dollar nor more
than ten dollars.

And any undertaker, sexton or other person acting as under-
taker, who shall inter, remove or otherwise dispose of the body
of a deceased person, without having received a burial or re-
moval permit as herein provided, shall be deemed guilty of a mis-
demeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be fined not less than
one dollar nor more than ten dollars.

And any registrar, deputy registrar or sub-registrar who
shall wilfully neglect or fail to enforce the provisions of this act
in his district, or who shall wilfully neglect or refuse to perform
any of the duties imposed upon him by this act, or by the in-
structions and directions of the State registrar, shall be deemed
guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be
fined not less than one dollar nor more than ten dollars.

And any person who shall wilfully alter any certificate of
birth or death, or the copy of any certificate of birth or death,
on file in the office of the local or State registrar shall be deemed
guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be
fined not less than ten dollars nor more than one hundred dol-
lars, or be imprisoned in the county jail not exceeding sixty days,
or Sutter both fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the
court.

And any other person or persons who shall wilfully violate
any of the provisions of this act, or who shall wilfully neglect or
refuse to perform any duties imposed upon them by the provi-
sions of this act, or shall furnish false information to a physician,
undertaker, midwife, or informant, for the purpose of making
incorrect certification of births or deaths, shall be deemed guilty
of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not
less than five dollars nor more than one hundred dollars.

22. That each local registrar is hereby charged with the
strict and thorough enforcement of the provisions of this act in
his registration district, under the supervision and direction of
the State registrar. And he shall make an immediate report to
the State registrar of any violation of this law coming to his
notice, by observation or upon complaint of any person, or other-
wise. The State registrar is hereby charged with the thorough
and efficient execution of the provisions of this act in every part
of the State, and with supervisory power over local registrars, to
the end that all its requirements shall be uniformily complied
with. He shall have authority to investigate cases of irregular-
ity or violation of law personally, or by an accredited representa-
tive, and all registrars shall aid him, upon request, in such in-
vestigations. When he shall deem it necessary, he shall report
cases of violation of any of the provisions of this act to the com-
monwealth’s attorney of the county, with a statement of the acts
and circumstances; and when any such case is reported to him
by the State registrar, the commonwealth’s attorney shall forth-
with initiate and promptly follow up the necessary court pro-
ceedings against the person responsible for the alleged violation
of law.

23. The State superintendent of public printing shall sup-
ply the State board of health with all blanks and forms neces-
sary for the execution of this act.

24. That for carrying out the provisions of this act and to
provide the necessary clerical assistance, postage and other ex-
penses there shall be expended out of the general fund appropri-
ated to the State board of health so much thereof as said board
of health may deem necessary, not exceeding the sum of five
thousand dollars.