Limitation of prosecutions. SEC. 12. Every prosecution for a violation of any of the provisions of this chapter, shall be commenced within thirty days from the commission thereof. CHAPTER 77. Town clerks or registers to record, and make annual returns, of births, deaths, and marriages, to secretary of state. Secretary, with committee of Commiteed. Soc. to publish abstract of returns. OF THE REGISTRATION OF BIRTHS, DEATHS AND MAR SECTION RIAGES. 1. Town clerks or registers to record 2. Secretary, with committee of R. I. returns. 3. Forms of records of births, deaths, 4. Monthly returns of marriages to 5. Town clerks to ascertain and re- 6. Attending physicians to certify 9. Towns to pass laws to secure reg- 10. Fees of town clerks, &c. 11. Penalties upon clergyman, phy SECTION sician, undertaker, &c., for wilful neglect of registration duty. 12. Names and residence of clergymen, physicians, coroners, undertakers, and clerks of societies of Friends, to be recorded. 13. Letters of administration, or testamentary, not granted until record of death. 14. Books of registry and certified 15. Records of births, &c., of non- 18. Fees of town clerks, &c., for col- 19. Returns of divorces, where to be published. SECTION 1. The town clerks of the several towns, or in lieu thereof, any person whom the board of aldermen of any city, or the town council of any town may, upon the written recommendation of an authorized committee of the Rhode Island Medical Society, appoint for that purpose, are hereby authorized and required to obtain, chronologically record and index, as required by the forms prescribed by the third section of this chapter, all information concerning births, marriages, and deaths, occurring among the inhabitants of their respective towns; and on or before the first Monday of March, annually, to make duly certified returns thereof to the secretary of state, for each year, ending on the thirty-first day of December, accompanying the same with a list of those individuals, required by law to make returns to him, who have neglected the same, and with such remarks relating to the object of the law, as they may deem important to communicate. SEC. 2. The secretary of state shall receive the returns made in pursuance of the preceding section, and annually, with such assistance as shall be rendered by any authorized committee of the Rhode Island Medical Society, make and publish, not exceeding one thousand copies, a general abstract and report thereof, in form as prescribed by section third of this chapter. He shall also cause said returns to be arranged, full alphabetical indices of all the names to be made, the whole to be bound in convenient sized volumes, and carefully preserved in his office, for which he shall receive the sum of fifty dol lars. SEC. 3. The blank forms required to carry out the provisions of this chapter shall, on application, be furnished by the secretary of state to clergymen, physicians, undertakers, town clerks, clerks of the Society of Friends, and other persons requiring them, substantially after the following forms, viz.: The record of a birth shall state the date and place of birth, name and sex of the child, whether living or stillborn, the name and surname, color, occupation, residence, and birthplace of the parents, and the time of recording, so far as the same can be ascertained. The record of a marriage shall state the date of the marriage, place, name, residence, and official station of the person by whom married, names and surnames of the parties, age, color, occupation, and residence of each, condition (whether single or widowed), what marriage, if second, third, or other marriage, the occupation, birthplace, and name of their parents, and the time of recording, so far as the same can be ascertained. The record of deaths shall state the date of death, name and surname of deceased, the sex, color, and condition (single or married), age, occupation, place of death, place of birth, names and birthplace of parents, disease, or cause of death, and the time of recording, so far as can be ascertained. Of Marriages. turns of marriages to be clerks. made to town SEC. 4. Every Society of Friends, clergymen, and all others, Monthly reauthorized to join persons in marriage, shall make a faithful record of every such rite performed by them, in manner and form aforesaid, and return the same on or before the second Monday of every month, for the last preceding month, to the clerk of the town in which such rite shall have been performed; and no marriage shall be solemnized, until the parties shall have signed and delivered to the authority about to solemnize it, or to the clerk of a Society of Friends, a certificate containing the information required for the record of a marriage, as prescribed in the third section of this chapter. Of Births. record births; SEC. 5. The clerk of every town, shall annually, in the month Town clerks of January, collect the facts required by section third of this chapter, to ascertain and in relation to all children born in the town during the year ending the thirty-first day of December next preceding, and for each full report of a birth so obtained, the clerk shall receive ten cents, to be paid by the town in which the birth is recorded. fee for. Of Deaths. SEC. 6. Whenever any person shall die in the state, it shall be the Attending phyduty of the physician attending in his or her last sickness, within sician to report, &c., deaths. forty-eight hours after the death, to leave with the family, if any, or persons having the care of the deceased, or to give to the undertaker or person who conducts the funeral, a certificate stating the name of the deceased, the date of the death, and the disease or cause of death. Appointment Of Undertakers. SEC. 7. There may be appointed by the town authorities of every of undertakers. town, a sufficient number of persons to act as undertakers, removable at the pleasure of the authorities. Undertakers' return to town clerks. Towns may pass laws to secure registra tion, &c. Fees of town clerks, &c. Penalties for neglect of registration duty. Names and Letters of ad ministration or testamentary, not granted until record of death. Registers and SEC. 8. The undertaker, or the person who shall conduct a funeral, or who shall bury or deposit in a tomb the body of any deceased person, shall obtain the facts, required by section third of this chapter in relation to deaths, concerning such deceased person, together with the physician's certificate of the cause of the death, if a physician was in attendance, and on or before the second Monday of the next succeeding month shall make a return of the facts obtained, together with the physician's certificate, to the clerk of the town in which the death occurred. SEC. 9. Any town may enact municipal laws, more effectually to attain the objects herein contemplated: Provided, they do not conflict with the main and specific object of this act, viz.: to procure the most perfect registration. Of Fees. SEC. 10. The town clerks, or persons recommended and appointed as aforesaid, shall receive for each record of a death made and returned as required by law, and for each record of a marriage made and returned as required by law, twenty cents, to be paid to them out of their respective town treasuries: Provided, that the yearly compensation to be paid out of the town treasury as aforesaid, to any one town clerk or person appointed as aforesaid, who shall faithfully perform the duties prescribed by this chapter, shall not be less than five dollars. Undertakers and others making returns of deaths as required in section eight of this chapter shall receive for each full report of a death made to the town clerk, five cents, in the cities of Providence or Newport, and ten cents in the other towns of the state. SEC. 11. If any clergyman, physician, undertaker, town clerk, clerk of any meeting of the Society of Friends, or other persons, shall wilfully neglect or refuse to perform any of the duties imposed on, or required of him, by this chapter, he shall, at the discretion of the court trying the cause, be fined not exceeding twenty dollars for each offence, one half thereof to the use of the town in which the offence shall occur, the other half to the use of the person who shall complain of the same. SEC. 12. In order that it may be more surely ascertained that no clergyman, physician, coroner, undertaker, or clerk of the Society of Friends, neglects to make the returns specified in this chapter, each of the said parties shall cause his name and residence to be recorded, in the clerk's office of the town where he resides. person, SEC. 13. No letters of administration, or letters testamentary, shall be granted by any court of probate, upon the effects or estate of any until the death of such person, or the facts from which the same is presumed, shall be duly certified, as near as may be, to the town clerk, in order that the same may be duly registered according to the provisions of this chapter. SEC. 14. Such books or registers, or a certificate duly certified by certified copies, the town clerk, or person appointed as aforesaid, as containing a full copy of the record of any marriage, birth, or death, shall hereafter be to be evidence. admitted in any court in this state, as primâ facie proof of any marriage, birth, or death. SEC. 15. Births, marriages, and deaths of non-residents, shall be distinguished from those of residents in the returns, by being arranged separately. SEC. 16. The secretary of state may, from time to time, vary the forms of returns, and require such additional information as he may consider necessary, to effect the object of this chapter. SEC. 17. The sum of three hundred and fifty dollars annually, to be drawn for by the secretary of state, is appropriated out of the general treasury, to defray the expense incident to examining, collecting, and arranging the registration returns, making the necessary tables, and drawing up the report required by the second section of this chapter. SEC. 18. The town clerks or other officers appointed under this chapter, to collect, record, and return the births in the several towns, shall receive fees therefor as follows: For collecting the facts required in relation to births, fifteen cents each; for making record and return of these facts as required by law, twenty cents each for the first fifty entries in each calendar year, and ten cents each for each subsequent entry and return. SEC. 19. The returns required to be made by clerks of the supreme court, in relation to divorces, to the secretary of state, or a prepared abstract thereof, shall be published in the annual report upon the births, marriages, and deaths in the state. Returns of state may re returns. Annual appropriation for making abstract and report. Fees of town clerks, &c., for collecting, recording, and returning births. Returns of divorces, where to be published. SECTION 1. The town council of each town shall have power to regulate the keeping of taverns, victualling houses, cook shops, oyster houses and oyster cellars therein, by granting licenses therefor, upon such compensation for the benefit of the town as they shall see fit to impose, or by refusing to grant them. SEC. 2. Every such license shall specify the person licensed, the business licensed, and the building or room in which he shall pursue the same, and shall continue and be in force until the Thursday next following the first Wednesday in April, unless sooner revoked for cause. SEC. 3. If any person in any town shall open, or keep open, any tavern, victualling house, cook shop, oyster house, or oyster cellar, without license first had and obtained from the town council of such town, or in any place other than that specified in such license, such person shall be fined fifty dollars for every offence, one half thereof to the use of the town in which the offence shall have been committed, and the other half to the use of the state. Town councils to license tavshops, &c. erns, cook License, what to specify, and how long in force. Penalty for keeping tavern, cook shop, &c., without license. Bond of licensed person. Duty of li SEC. 4. Every person licensed as aforesaid shall give bond in the sum of one hundred dollars to the town in which said license shall be granted, with surety satisfactory to the town council, and with conditions to comply with the provisions of his license and of law. SEC. 5. Every such licensed person shall maintain good order in the censed person. building licensed, and shall not sell, or suffer to be sold, any ale, wine, or strong liquor therein: nor shall he suffer any person in said licensed building to become intoxicated, nor shall he under any circumstances take in pawn, or pledge any article whatever: neither shall he suffer said licensed building to become frequented by any common drunkard, or person addicted to the intemperate use of ale, wine, or strong liquors, or by any person who is a disturber of the peace, or who is wasting his property or earnings and means of supporting himself and family, or by any person under lawful age; nor shall he suffer or permit any person to play at any game of chance or skill for ale, wine, or strong liquor, money, or other valuable consideration, within any of his possessions. Penalty upon, for breach of duty. Annulment of SEC. 6. Every such licensed person violating either of the provisions of the next preceding section, shall be deemed the keeper of a disorderly house, and shall be fined fifty dollars, one half thereof to the use of the town in which the offence shall have been committed, and the other half to the use of the state. SEC. 7. In case any such licensed person shall be convicted of license by con- keeping a disorderly house, or in case judgment shall be rendered against any such person in a suit on his bond, the town council shall forthwith withdraw and annul his said license; and he shall not be licensed during the two years next following his conviction. viction, or judgment on bond. SECTION CHAPTER 79. OF THE SUPPRESSION OF INTEMPERANCE. 1. Prohibition of sale of wine, rum, 2. Licenses for sale of, when and how 3. Time of granting licenses. 5. Places licensed (taverns excepted), 6. License, when to be paid for and 7. License bonds, to whom given. 9. Form of license; where to be kept, 10. Of bonds and sureties, effect of 11. Penalty for violation of conditions SECTION of license; when license revocable. 12. Penalty for selling liquor to minors. 13. Penalty for ejecting intoxicated person from premises where he has purchased liquor. 14. Penalty for second conviction of certain offences. 15. Town councils may appoint special 16. Powers of special constables. 18. Power of certain officers to seize 19. Fees for seizure. |