may deliver

ing to him the certificate of death, and shall retain the certificate of death, to be transmitted to the State Bureau of Vital Statistics as hereinafter provided; pro- Proviso. vided, that when a death shall occur within any township, and the burial is to be made within the limits of any city, borough, town or other local municipal government of this State, the certificate of any such death Undertaker may be delivered, if it be more convenient, by the un- certificate. dertaker or person acting as undertaker, to the registrar of vital statistics, if there be such officer, or if there be no such officer, then to the clerk of the city, borough, town or other local municipal government within which such undertaker or person acting as undertaker may reside, or within which the burial is to be made, but in all such cases it shall be the duty of such undertaker or person acting as undertaker, to deliver with said certificate of death, in writing, to such registrar or clerk, the name and post office address of the assessor, if there be such officer, and if there be none, then to the clerk of the township in which the death shall have occurred, and also the sum of two cents to pay for postage, and said registrar or clerk shall immediately issue a permit for burial as in other cases, Permit and shall immediately transmit such certificate by mail to the assessor or clerk whose name and post office address shall have been furnished as aforesaid, and for any neglect or failure so to transmit such certificate, such registrar or clerk shall be liable to a penalty of Penalty. fifty dollars.

issued.

In absence
of proper
officials,
ance of per-
mits.

5. In case where, on account of the absence of the registrar of vital statistics or the clerk of any city, bor- meals, issuough, town or other local municipal government, or for any other sufficient reason, it may be impossible to obtain from such registrar or clerk a permit in time for burial, it shall be lawful for any judge of the Court of Common Pleas or any justice of the peace of the county in which the death occurred, on presentation of the certificate of death to him, and being satisfied that such certificate is genuine, and that no permit can be obtained in time for burial from the clerk aforesaid,

Special permit for burial.

Fee.

Record of interments kept by cemetery companies.

Books open to inspection.

Undertakers must transmit death certificates.

to issue a special permit for burial in the following
form; "It being impossible to obtain a burial permit
from the registrar of vital statistics or the clerk of the
(stating here the name of the city, borough, town or
other local municipal government), on account of (state
here the reason), I, a judge of the Court of Common
Pleas (or justice of the peace) of the county of......
..do hereby grant this special permit for the
burial of...
whose death has been
duly certified to me," which permit shall be dated and
signed by such judge or justice; the said judge or jus-
tice shall give the permit to the person delivering to
him the certificate of death, and shall, within five days.
thereafter transmit the certificate, by mail, to the State
Bureau of Vital Statistics, at Trenton. The judge or
justice who shall issue any such permit shall be entitled
to charge and receive from the person presenting to
him such certificate of death the sum of fifty cents.

6. It shall be the duty of every cemetery company incorporated under any law of this State to make and keep a record of all interments made in any cemetery owned or conducted by any such company, and it shall also be the duty of the owner or owners of every other cemetery in which burial places for dead human bodies are sold to make and keep a record of all interments made in any such cemetery, and said record shall contain and include the name of every person interred, last place of residence of the deceased, and the name of the undertaker, or person acting as undertaker; said record shall be a public record, and at all times open to the inspection of any persons who, under any of the laws of this State, shall have duties imposed upon them relating to the procurement or tabulation of vital statistics. 7. It shall be the duty of every undertaker in this State, and of every person acting as undertaker in this State, to transmit by mail or otherwise to the assessor of the township, or, if there be no assessor, then to the clerk of the township, within two days after burial, the certificate of death which he may have received and used as a burial permit in the case of any person who shall have died in such township, or of any person

cate must

burial per

mit.

who shall have died out of this State and been buried
in such township, and if he shall neglect or fail so to
do, he shall be liable to a penalty of fifty dollars; and Penalty.
any undertaker, or person acting as undertaker, who Death certifi
shall bury, deposit in a vault or tomb, or cremate with- precede
in this State the body of any deceased person without
having first received a permit for burial, according to
the true intent and meaning of this act, and any clerk
who shall sign any permit for burial and deliver the
same, or knowingly suffer it to be delivered, to any
undertaker or other person without having first re-
ceived a certificate of death, according to the true in-
tent and meaning of this act, shall be liable to a penalty
of fifty dollars. All burial permits issued by any regis-
trar of vital statistics, assessor of a township, clerk of
a city, borough or other municipal government shall be
delivered by the undertaker, or person acting as un-
dertaker, to the keeper of the cemetery in which the
burial shall be made.

8. Any physician, midwife or other person who
shall knowingly make any false certificate of birth or
death shall be liable to a fine not exceeding one hun-
dred dollars.

Burial perered to keeper of

mits deliv

cemetery.

Penalty for or death

false birth

certificates.

Monthly relocal officers

turns by

to state.

9. It shall be the duty of the assessor and clerk of every township and of the registrar of vital statistics and the clerk of every city, borough, town, and of the clerk of every county board of health and vital statistics, or other local municipal government in this State, on or before the tenth day of each calendar month, to transmit by mail, express or messenger, to the State Bureau of Vital Statistics, at Trenton, in an envelope or package marked "Vital Statistics," all the certificates of births and deaths received by such officer, which certificates and returns it shall be the duty of every such officer to receive for such transmission, and every such assessor, registrar or clerk upon receiving a certificate from the medical superintendent of said bureau of the whole number of certificates of births and deaths transmitted as aforesaid, shall be entitled to re- Fee for ceive from the proper disbursing officer of the township, city, borough, town, county or other local muni

transmission.

Proviso.

Penalty for failure to transmit proper certificates.

All certificates in

dexed, etc.

cipal government in which such assessor, registrar or clerk shall be an officer, the sum of twenty cents for each birth and death certificate so transmitted, the receipt for which shall be attached to the said certificate of the said medical superintendent and no payment shall be made unless such certificate be produced, and no credit shall be given or certificate issued by the said medical superintendent to any such assessor, registrar or clerk for any certificate of birth or death which is mailed or otherwise transmitted later than ten days after the end of the calendar month in which the birth or death occurred; provided, that in any city the board or body having charge or control of the finances may, in lieu of fees, provide that officers performing the above service shall receive therefor a stated or fixed compensation to be determined by such board or body. Any assessor or clerk of a township, or registrar of vital statistics, or clerk of a city, borough, town, county or other local municipal government in this State, who shall neglect or fail to transmit, as provided for in this section, to the State Bureau of Vital Statistics, at Trenton, on or before the tenth day of each calendar month, all certificates of births and deaths of the previous calendar month in his possession shall be liable to a penalty of fifty dollars.

IO. 10. It shall be the duty of the medical superintendent of the State Bureau of Vital Statistics to cause the certificates of births and deaths received by said bureau pursuant to the provisions of this act, to be alphabetically indexed, and in connection with said index to cause to be transcribed or otherwise recorded from said certificates such of the vital facts appearing thereon as the State Bureau of Vital Statistics may deem necessary and useful. The certificates of births and of deaths, with said record of vital facts, shall be kept separate and distinct from one another, and shall be so tabulated as to present in separate and distinct classes the record of each county, city or other muniClassification. cipality of over five thousand inhabitants, which record thus prepared and classified shall be preserved as a public record in the office of the State Bureau of Vital

copies in

Statistics, and the original certificate shall be preserved in the archives of the said State Bureau of Vital Statistics. Any such original certificate, or any copy Certified thereof, certified to be a true copy under the hand of evidence. I said medical superintendent, shall be received in evidence in any court of this State to prove the facts therein contained.

prepared

and supplied.

II. It shall be the duty of the State Bureau of Vital Blanks Statistics to cause to be prepared blank forms of certificates of births and deaths and of burial permits, corresponding to the requirements of this act, which forms, together with such sections of this law and such instructions and explanations thereof as the said bureau may deem useful to persons having duties to perform under this act, shall be printed and supplied in the same manner as the blanks and stationery for the use of the several departments and public offices of the State government are printed and supplied, and shall be distributed from time to time, as occasion may require, by said bureau amongst the assessors of townships and the registrars and clerks of the cities, boroughs, towns and other local municipal governments of this State, and all certificates of births and deaths required to be made under this act shall be written upon the said blanks.

seal.

searches.

12. The medical superintendent of the Bureau of omcial. Vital Statistics of this State is hereby authorized to have an official seal, and to demand and receive for the services hereinafter mentioned the following fees, and no more, to wit: for every search made in the Fees for office of said bureau for the record of any vital certificate, the sum of fifty cents for each year searched, and for every certificate of said superintendent appended thereto, the sum of fifty cents. Said superintendent shall keep a true record and account of all fees received under the provisions of this act, and shall pay the same monthly into the treasury of this State; pro- Proviso. vided, however, that no fees shall be charged for certificates furnished in proof for pension.

13. Any certificate of birth or death filed in the Correction of office of the State Bureau of Vital Statistics may be

certificates.