Chap. 58.—An ACT to umend and re-enact sections 15, 18 and 20 of 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 organi-
zation and efficiency of the registration of vital statistics throughout the
State; to provide certain penalties; to repeal all acts and parts of acts
in conflict herewith, approved March 12, 1912, as amended by an act
approved March 13, 1914. [S B 75]

Approved February 16, 1918.

1. Be it enacted by the general assembly of Virginia, That the
etions fifteen, eighteen and twenty of an act entitled an act to pro-
ide for the immediate registration of all births and deaths through-
it the State of Virginia, by means of certificates of births and
eaths, and burial or removal permits; to require prompt returns
» the bureau of vital statistics at the capital of the State, as re-
ured to be established by the State board of health; to insure the
iorough organization and efficiency of the registration of vital
atistics throughout the State; to provide certain penalties; to re-
-al all acts and parts in conflict herewith, approved March twelfth,
neteen hundred and twelve, be, and the same are hereby, amended
1d re-enacted so as to read as follows:

Section 15. That when any certificate of birth of a living child
presented without the statement of the given name, then the local
gistrar shall make out and deliver to the parents of the child a
ecial blank for the supplemental report of the given name of the
ild, which shall be filled out as directed, and returned to the local
gistrar as soon as the child shall have been named.

That every physician, midwife, undertaker and dealer in coffins
all, without delay, register his or her name, address and occupa-
yn with the local registrar of the district in which he or she re-
les. or may hereafter establish a residence; each midwife shall
on registration be given without cost a permit to practice her
ofession from the State registrar of vital statistics, countersigned
-the local registrar. This permit may be revoked by the State
yistrar upon evidence that the midwife has failed to comply with
> Jaw in the report of births, or to obey the sanitary rules of the
ate board of health governing midwives. Any person who _prac-
es the profession of midwife for pay without a permit shall be
yject to a fine of from one to ten dollars for each such offense.

Within thirty days after the close of each calendar year, or
lier, each local registrar shall make a return to the State registrar
all physicians, midwives or undertakers who have been registered
his district during the whole or any part of the preceding calendar
1; provided, that no fee or other compensation shall be charged
local registrars to physicians, midwives, or undertakers for regis-
ing their names under this section or making returns thereof ta

State registrar.
Sec. 18. That it shall be the duty of the local registrars to
supply 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 1t 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 un-
til they are corrected or satisfactorily explained. If the certificate
of death is executed 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 in-
fectious, 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 conditions 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 number consecutively the certificates of birth and death.
in two separate series, beginning with number one for the first birth
and the first death in each calendar year, and sign his name as regis-
trar in attest of the date of filing in his office.

He shall also make a complete and accurate copy of each birth
and each death certificate registered by him in a record book sup-
plied by the State registrar (to be preserved permanently in hi:
office, and transferred to his successor, as the local record in such
manner as directed by the State registrar, except that in copying
certificates of the birth of illegitimate children, all items are to be
copied into his books from the original certificate transmitted tc
the State bureau of vital statistics, except the names of the children
and parents, those spaces to be left blank in his copies.)

The local registrar shall on the tenth day of each month trans.
mit to the State registrar all original certificates of births and death:
which have occurred to the end of the preceding month. And if nc
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 =
card provided for this purpose.

Sec. 20. That the State registrar shall, upon request, furnisl
any applicant a certified copy of the record of any birth or deatl
registered under provisions of this act, for the making and certifi
cation of which he shall be entitled to a fee of fifty cents to be paic
by the applicant, and any such copy of the record of a birth o
death, when properly certified by the State registrar to be a true
copy thereof, shall be prima facie evidence in all courts and place:
of the facts herein stated. (Provided however that the State regis
trar may decline to issue a certified copy of the certificate of th
birth or the death of an illegitimate child or to give any informatior
concerning the same, except by. order of court or upon the writter
request of the mother of the child, or other person responsible fo
it.) For any search of the files and records when no certified cop:
is made, the State registrar shall be entitled to a fee of fifty cents
foreach 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.

(That the State registrar shall, upon request of any parent or
ruardian, supply without fee, a statement as to the date of the birth
of any child, when the same shall be necessary for admission to
school or for the purpose of securing employment, and the notifica-
tion cards which have been furnished to parents or others, of the
registration of the birth of legitimate children shall if unchanged
le taken as proof of registration of the births. |

Certified copies of births or deaths may be furnished the pension,
war, navy and other departments of the United States or Virginia

service Without the payment of the usual fee.)