CHAPTER 60
BOARDS OF HEALTH - REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MARRIAGES.
AN ACT to Amend Chapter 25 of the Revised Code of the State of Delaware, relating to the Return of Marriages to Local Registrars, and the Enforcement of Provisions by Local and State Registrars.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Delaware in General Assembly met:
Section 1. That Chapter 25 of the Revised Code of the State of Delaware be and the same is hereby amended by repealing 814, Section 79 thereof, and inserting in lieu thereof the following section, to be styled 814, Section 79.
814, Section 79. It shall be the duty of any clergyman or minister of religion of any denomination, and of all clerks or keepers of the records of any religious society, and of any other person, by or before whom any marriage or marriages may be solemnized or contracted, to make full and complete return of the same, on blanks furnished by the State Registrar, on or before the tenth day of the month following in which said marriage or marriages solemnized or contracted, to the Local Registrar of the District in which said marriage or marriages are solemnized or contracted; a separate form shall be used for each marriage reported; all such certificates shall be filed according to their date.
For each marriage certificate properly and completely made out and registered with the Local Registrar or Local Registrar of the District in which the marriage took place, the maker thereof shall receive the sum of ten cents. The Local Registrar shall certify to the State Registrar the amount thus due each person on the first day of each year.
The State Registrar shall draw by warrant from the Treasurer of each County the amount due each person for said marriage certificates in each County, and shall immediately on receiving said Moneys from said County Treasurer pay said persons as provided in this section, provided, that said amount shall tally with the marriage certificate records in the Bureau of Vital Statistics.
Every clergyman, minister, clerk or keeper of Records, or other person, before whom marriages may be contracted in this section designated shall, within twenty-four hours after said marriage, report said marriage to the State Registrar on a form supplied by the State Registrar.
The form shall contain the following information:
Name of Groom.
Residence of Groom.
Name of Bride.
Residence of Bride.
Date of Marriage.
Place of Marriage.
Name of person or clerk solemnizing marriage.
This report shall in no way supplant or relieve any responsibility for filing a certificate of the marriage as provided for in this section - any such person or clerk failing to make a report as herein provided shall be liable to the penalties provided in Section 83 of this Chapter.
Section 2. That Chapter 25 of the Revised Code of the State of Delaware be and the same is hereby amended by repealing 819, Section 84 thereof, and by inserting in lieu thereof the following section to be styled 819, Section 84.
819, Section 84. The Local Registrars are charged with the strict and thorough enforcement of the provisions of this article in their several districts, under the supervision and direction of the State Registrar. They shall make an immediate report to the State Registrar of any violation of said article coming to their notice by observation or upon complaint of any person, or otherwise. The State Registrar is charged with the thorough and efficient execution of the provisions of said article in every part of the State, and with the supervisory power over Local Registrars, to the end that all of its requirements shall be uniformly complied with. He shall have authority to investigate cases of irregularity or violation of Law, personally or by accredited representative.
All Local Registrars shall aid him, upon request, in such investigation.
For any violation of said article or parts thereof, the State Registrar may bring action against the violator before any Justice of the Peace.
When he shall deem it necessary, he shall report cases of violation of any of the provisions of said article to the Attorney General, with a statement of the facts and circumstances, and when any such case is reported to him by the State Registrar, the Attorney General shall forthwith initiate and promptly prosecute necessary proceedings against the parties responsible for the alleged violations of law.
Approved March 12, A. D. 1915.