Report of the joint special committee of the Legislature of Massachusetts appointed to consider the expediency of modifying the laws relating to the registration of births, marriages, and deaths : presented March 3, 1849.

  • Massachusetts. General Court.
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the joint special committee of the Legislature of Massachusetts appointed to consider the expediency of modifying the laws relating to the registration of births, marriages, and deaths : presented March 3, 1849. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    on the evidence which a register alone can furnish. When this is wanting, great labor is often spent in vain to ascertain the date of the birth of an individual, and injustice often re- sults in consequence to the parties interested. 3. Towns have often been subjected to great labor, vexatious and expensive law-suits, and to much injustice, in determining questions as to the settlement and support of paupers, under the operation of our laws, which might have been avoided if the registration of births, marriages, and deaths, had been generally made. 4. Many persons have been deprived of the pensions to which they or their husbands were justly entitled, because they were unable to procure the proof which the marriage or other regis- ters should furnish, and, on that account, many a widow and orphan has suffered, or is now suffering, in penury and want, or is cast upon towns for support, because they need the aid which the government allows, as a poor compensation for meri- torious services. 5. The equitable descent and distribution of estates often depend almost entirely upon the evidence which the registers furnish of the personal history of individuals; and it requires only a partial acquaintance with the proceed- ings of our courts of justice to show how important such a register may be in settling questions as to the marriage relation, titles to estates, and the rights of heirs at law. Advertisements, offering a reward for legal evidence of a marriage, are not un- common. When such evidence cannot be obtained, an estate may fall into the possession of those who are not justly entitled to it. And even when the descent is finally and equitably established, it is often after expensive litigation, which disturbs the peace and happiness of families, and results in a positive injury. It has been well said, by an eminent English jurist, that it appears fully as necessary, for the preservation of the rights of individuals, to preserve a register of births, deaths, and marriages, as it is to preserve a register of deeds. As a source of evidence, registration would be comparatively valua- ble, if part of the births, marriages, and deaths, were not re- corded ; but its value would be increased in proportion to the degree of fulness attained. 2. Registration would furnish data for constructing proper