Circulars and Laws.

Many of the circulars which have been issued from time to time by the New Jersey State Board of Health are now out of print, and others have been replaced by revised editions. Following is a list of those which are at present ready for distribution:

97.-Illuminating Oils

66 98.-Restriction of the Spread of Communicable Diseases.

New circulars have been issued as follows: No. 101, Births, Marrriages and Deaths; No. 102, Small-pox; No. 103, Foods and Drugs.

CIRCULAR 101, MAY, 1901.

Births, Marriages and Deaths.

SYNOPSIS OF THE LAW RELATING TO THE CERTIFICATION AND REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS, MARRIAGES AND DEATHS IN NEW JERSEY. (CHAPTER 39, LAWS OF 1888.)

Duties of Clergymen and Others.-All persons who perform the marriage ceremony shall, within thirty days, transmit a certificate of the marriage to the local registrar of vital statistics, if

there be such officer, and if there be no such officer, then to the assessor in townships and to the city clerk in cities. (Sections 1, 4.)

Duties of Physicians and Midwives.-The physician or midwife who is present at the birth of any child shall transmit, within thirty days, a certificate of birth to the officer mentioned in the preceding section. (Section 2.)

Duties of Parents.-When no physician or midwife is present at a birth, then the parents shall transmit the certificate of birth to the proper officer. (Section 2.)

The assessor, city clerk or other person acting as registrar of vital statistics shall supply physicians with twelve stamped envelopes annually. (Section 2.)

Assessors in townships shall make "special returns' of births in cases where any physician, midwife or parent has failed to perform this duty. (Section 2.)

When any person shall die within the State, the attending physician shall sign a certificate of death and deliver it to the undertaker or family. (Section 3.)

If no physician shall have attended the deceased person, any physician may view the body and issue a certificate. (Section 3.) Any coroner or other officer who shall lawfully conduct an investigation into the cause of death shall furnish the certificate of death. (Section 3.)

When any death occurs within any city or other municipality the registrar of vital statistics, if there be such officer, and if there be no such officer, then the city clerk, after having received the certificate of death, shall issue a permit for burial, and no body of any person dying in any city or other municipality shall be buried until said permit has been issued. (Section 5.)

When the death occurs in any township and the burial is to be made anywhere in the State outside of municipal limits, the certificate of death is itself a permit for burial. (Section 5.)

When the death occurs in any township and the burial is to be made within any city or other municipality, the certificate of death is to be delivered (see next paragraph) to the assessor of the township, or if the assessor cannot be found, to the clerk of the township, and the said assessor or clerk shall then issue the permit for burial. (Section 5.)

It is provided, however, that when a death shall occur in any township and the burial is to be made within any city or other municipality, the certificate of death may be delivered, if more convenient, to the registrar of vital statistics, if there be such officer, and if there be no such officer, then to the clerk of the city or other municipality within which the burial is to be made. (Section 5.)

When, for convenience (see preceding paragraph), the certificate of death is delivered to the registrar or clerk of a municipality, the undertaker shall make known to the said officer the name and post-office address of the assessor of the township in which the death occurred, and shall also pay the sum of two cents for postage, and said officer shall issue the burial permit and transmit the certificate of death to the said assessor. (Section 5.)

Any Judge of the Court of Common Pleas, or any justice of the peace of the county, may issue a burial permit in case the registrar or clerk of any city or other municipality is absent. (Section 6.)

When any dead body shall be brought into this State for burial, it shall be accompanied by a certificate of death, or, in lieu thereof (see also chapter 156 of the laws of 1900), a certificate of death may be obtained from a physician residing in the district within which the burial is to be made. (Section 7.)

When a dead body is to be removed from this State (see also chapter 156 of the laws of 1900), the undertaker shall obtain a transit permit from the proper officer. (Section 8.)

A record of interments in cemeteries owned by cemetery companies shall be kept by the person in charge of every such cemetery. (Section 9.)

Undertakers shall transmit certificates of death within five days after burial, to the assessor of the township in which the death occured, in all cases in which the said certificate has been used as a permit for burial. (Section 10.)

No dead body shall be buried until a lawful permit for burial shall first have been obtained, nor shall any such permit be unlawfully signed or delivered by any clerk, under a penalty of $50. (Section 10.)

Any person making a false certificate of marriage, birth or death shall be punished by a penalty of $100, or by imprisonment. (Section 11.)

All certificates of marriages, births and deaths, and all "special returns" shall be transmitted by assessors, clerks and registrars to the bureau of vital statistics, Trenton, on or before the 15th of every month. (Section 12.)

The Medical Superintendent shall certify the number of certificates received from each assessor, clerk and registrar, and for every certificate so certified the local disbursing officer shall pay the sum of ten cents to the said assessor, clerk or registrar. (Section 12.)

In cities containing thirty thousand inhabitants or over, the governing body may cause a local record of vital statistics to be made. (Section 12.)

An alphabetical index shall be made of all certificates of marriages, births and deaths received by the State bureau of vital statistics. (Section 13.)

Blank forms of certificates shall be furnished by the bureau of vital statistics to local registrars of vital statistics, assessors and city clerks, and by these officers said blanks shall be distributed to clergymen, physicians, midwives and other persons required to perform duties under the law. (Section 14.)

A list of ministers, magistrates, physicians, midwives and undertakers shall be kept by assessors, clerks and registrars, and on or about May 1st in each year the said assessors, clerks and local registrars shall send each such person instructions and explanations, prepared and supplied by the bureau of vital statistics, together with a supply of blank forms for certificates of marriages, births and deaths. (Section 14.)

The provisions of the act are to be enforced by local boards of health, or by the State board of health, the penalty for violation, except as above set forth, being $20. (Section 15.)

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CHAPTER XXXIX., LAWS OF 1888.

AN ACT to secure in this state the certification of marriages, births and deaths, and of the vital facts relating thereto, and to provide for the record thereof.

1. That it shall be the duty of every judge of any court of common pleas, justice of the peace, recorder, police justice, mayor, minister of the gospel, and other person who shall, under the authority of any law of this state, solemnize any marriage therein, and the clerk or keeper of the minutes of any religious society be fore which any marriage shall be solemnized in this state, to transmit to the officer hereinafter designated, within thirty days after such solemnization, a certificate of each and every marriage solemnized by any such minister, magistrate or other person, or before any such religious society, which certificate shall set forth particularly the name, age, parentage, birthplace, occupation and residence of each of the persons married, the time and place of the marriage, the condition of each of the persons married, whether single or widowed, the name of the minister, magistrate or person by whom, or of the religious society before which the marriage was solemnized, and the names and residences of the witnesses; any minister, magistrate or other person, or clerk or keeper of the minutes of any religious society, who shall neglect or fail to transmit such certificate to the officer hereinafter designated, within the time aforesaid, shall be liable to a penalty of twenty dollars.

2. That it shall be the duty of the physician or midwife present at the birth of any child born in this state, and in case there be no physician or midwife present, then of the parents or either of them, to transmit, within thirty days after such birth, to the officer hereinafter designated, a certificate of such birth, which certificate shall set forth particularly, as far as they can be obtained, the day of the month and year of the birth, the township, city or municipality, and the county, in which the birth occurred, the name of each of the parents, the maiden name of the mother, the birthplace, residence and occupation of each of the parents, the sex and color of the child, the name of the child, if it be named, and the