Detail

24. Records of civil status are those of births, baptism and birth or baptisms or dedications, marriages, adoptions, burials and deaths.

Marriages are termed civil when they take place before a civil officer, and religious when solemnized by a minister of religion.

25.
1. (1) Registers for records of birth, civil marriages and deaths are kept by the District Registrars for the district in which they serve.
1. (2) The Registers of births, deaths and civil marriages may be kept and maintained in electronic form.
1. (3) Special provisions respecting status officers and the manner in which their duty is performed, are contained in the Civil Status Act, Cap. 4.02.
1. (Amended by Acts 34 of 1956 and 1 of 2008 and substituted by Act 8 of 2014)

27. Each depositary keeps two registers of the same tenor; and every record of civil status is inscribed in both, in the same terms and with the same formalities; each inscription being authentic.

The duplicate registers for acts of civil status may be divided into special parts or volumes to, record acts of baptisms or dedications, acts of marriage and acts of burials.

As prescribed by the Registrar, such parts or volumes of the duplicate registers may be either blank, or may be prepared with printed forms, running consecutively through each part or volume; but when one part or volume is used for acts of baptisms or dedications or of marriages, the first portion of such part or volume shall contain, in consecutive order, the forms for acts of baptisms or dedications, and the second portion thereof, the forms for acts of marriages.

28. The depositaries are supplied with registers by the Registrar of Civil Status, at the expense of Saint Lucia.

Each register so supplied must be numbered, signed and initialled in the manner prescribed in the Code of Civil Procedure. (Amended by Act 6 of 1913)

29. In cases where the parties are not obliged to appear in person at the registration of a record of civil status, they may be represented by an agent specially authorised to that effect.

30. The status officer reads to the parties or their agents and to the witnesses the record he inscribes in the register.

31. Records of civil status are inscribed without delay, in order of time and without blank space between any two. Erasures and marginal notes are acknowledged and initialled by those who sign the body of the record. Numbers must be expressed in words and there must be no abbreviations.

32.
1. (1) Within the first month of each year every depositary shall deposit in the office of the Registrar of Civil Status, one of the duplicate registers containing all the records of the previous year. The deposit is acknowledged by a receipt which the Registrar gives free of charge.
1. (2) The Minister responsible for civil status may, by Order published in the Gazette, set a date on which a depositary shall not be required to deposit records of baptisms or dedications or burials in the office of the Registrar of Civil Status.
1. (Amended by Act 6 of 1913 and substituted by Act 8 of 2014)

33. Within the first 6 months of each year, the Registrar of Civil Status verifies and reports to the Governor General upon the condition of the registers so deposited. He also reports without delay every irregularity or omission on the part of the status officer in the performance of his duty.

34.
1. (1) The Registrar of Civil Status and the Status Officers are bound to give extracts from the registers in their charge to any person requiring them on being paid the prescribed fees for the extract of each record; any such extract bearing the seal of the Registry of Civil Status and signed by the Registrar of Civil Status or Status Officer is authentic.
1. (2) The prescribed fees for the purposes of this Article and for the purposes of the Civil Status Act shall be the fees prescribed under the Civil Status Act, Cap. 4.02.
1. (Substituted by Acts 2 of 1995 and 8 of 2014)

35. On proof that the registers have not been kept, or when kept, that both have been lost or destroyed, records of civil status may be proved by family registers or papers, or by other writings or by witnesses.

36. Every depositary of registers is civilly responsible for any alteration made in them with recourse however against the person who has made the alteration.

37. An infraction of any article of this book, other than one which is punishable as a criminal offence, is punishable by a penalty not exceeding $96.

Revised Laws of Saint Lucia (2023)