Bureau of Vital Statistics, Trenton, N. J. 
Marriage, Birth and Death Returns. 
Copy of sections of the law defining the duties of Clergymen, 
Coroners, Physicians, Midwives, Undertakers, etc. 
1. Be it enacted by the Senate and General Assembly oj the State of New Jersey, 
That every minister of the gospel, justice of the peace, and other person having 
authority to solemnize marriages, and the clerk or keeper of the minutes of every 
religious society in this State, before which any marriage shall be solemnized, shall 
transmit to the proper officer, as hereinafter designated, a certificate of every partic- 
ular marriage solemnized before him, within thirty days thereafter, which certificate 
shall show the name, age, parentage, birthplace, occupation and residence of the 
parties married, the time and place of the marriage, the condition of each of the 
parties, whether single or widowed, the name of the clergyman or magistrate officia- 
ting, and the names and residences of the witnesses; any clergyman or magistrate 
neglecting to send such certificate shall be liable to a penalty of ten dollars. 
Neglect on the part of those solemnizing marriage to report the same, not only 
incurs the penalty, but often causes great inconvenience in securing evidence as to 
questions of legal validity. It is the right of each married person to have this 
recorded evidence, besides the need of these returns in the study of social conditions 
and of the moral as well as the civic welfare of society. Those in charge of the 
various religious bodies at their annual, semi-annual or quarterly meetings should not 
fail to call attention to this duty of monthly report, and to the breach of law and 
ethics which the oversight involves. 
2. And be it enacted, That it shall be the duty of the physician, midwife, or other 
person present at the birth of every child born, and in case there be no physician or 
midwife present, it shall be the duty of the parent to report in writing to the proper 
officer within thirty days thereafter the following particulars as far as known ; the 
day of the month and year of the birth, the precise place of residence, the names of 
both parents, and the maiden name of the mother, the birthplace, residence and 
occupation of the parents, the sex and color of the child, and its name, if it be 
named, also the name of the attending physician, under a penalty of thirty dollars ; 
and it is also provided, that any assessor of a township at the time of his annual assess- 
ment, in case he finds any return of a birth not made as herein provided, may fill out 
the certificate of the same on the usual blank signed by himself as assessor and 
marked “ special return,” and said return shall be valid as a record of the birth, but 
shall not excuse the attendant for neglect of return. 
The decisions of the medical profession (see English Registrar-General and Privy 
Council Reports and article on Vital Statistics, Vols. I. and 11., Reports of New Jersey 
State Board of Health, and Transactions of Medical Society of New Jersey, 1878,) 
authenticate it as a part of our duty to make these reports, besides the obliga" 
tion which law and the general interests of society imposes. If Physicians will carry 
a few blanks in the pocket case or the visiting record, there is but little inconvenience. 
The fact that in townships the assessor is allowed to make special returns in neglected 
cases will not be allowed to take the place of the requirement of return from the 
attendant, but is used as the means of informing the Bureau of Vital Statistics of any 
cases of neglect of return. Assessors should inform those concerned of the penalty 
for such neglect. 2 
3. And be it enacted, That no sexton, undertaker or other person shall hereafter 
bury within this State, or bring into or remove from this State, the body of any 
deceased person, without having first received a permit from the proper authority of 
the county, city or township wherein such person may have died, and if so doing, 
said sexton, undertaker or other person shall be liable"to a penalty of fifty dollars; 
provided, that in burying any deceased person who died in any township in this State 
outside of city limits, or county health board limits, the certificate of any regularly 
graduated physician of the township wherein the person died, shall be held by the 
sexton or undertaker as the only necessary burial permit, to be disposed of by him 
as hereinafter provided. 
4. And be it enacted, That in case of any person dying within this State, it shall be 
the duty of the physician who may have attended him during his last illness, to 
furnish the undertaker, or any member of the family applying therefor, a certificate 
of the death of said person, which certificate shall show the name, age, sex, color, 
nativity, occupation, last place of residence, place of death and the cause of death, 
according to the best of his knowledge; and said certificate shall constitute all the 
necessary burial permit in any township of the State, outside of city or incorporated 
or county health board limits, and the undertaker shall, within five days after said 
burial, send the same, by mail or otherwise, to the assessor of the township in which 
the deceased died, under a penalty of fifty dollars, as herein provided ; and further- 
more it is provided, that any undertaker residing in an incorporated city or town may 
present the certificate of death, in case of any burial which he is superintending, to 
the city clerk or other proper officer of said city, and receive the usual permit as 
issued by it, on condition that said clerk shall at once transmit said certificate to the 
assessor of the township in which the person died, and in case there has been no 
physician in attendance, some member of the family, if there be any present, if not, 
any one present, shall notify a physician of the death at once, and the physician shall 
proceed to view the dead body and ascertain all the facts necessary, and, if satisfied 
of the cause of death, grant the township certificate for burial, and, if not satisfied, 
shall send at once for the county coronor, or county physician, or justice of the peace, 
who shall take charge of the body and investigate the same, and, if any person pres- 
ent at the death of any person shall refuse or neglect to comply with the'require- 
ments of this act, they shall be liable to a penalty of ten dollars, and the physician 
shall receive one dollar for viewing a dead body and granting a burial certificate, 
provided said physician has not been in regular attendance on the deceased, if so, no 
extra charge shall be made by said physician. 
5. And be it enacted, That in any case where, on account of the absence of the 
proper officer, or for any other sufficient reason, it may be impossible to obtain from 
said officer 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 person died, 
on being satisfied as to the correctness of said certificate, to issue a permit for burial 
in the following form : “It being impossible to obtain a burial permit from the 
proper officer on account of (here stating the reason) I hereby grant this special per- 
mit for the burial of whose death has been duly certified to me;” the said 
judge or justice of the peace shall at once copy upon the back of said certificate the 
permit as granted, and mail the same to the office of the Secretary of State at Tren- 
ton, marked on the envelope “ Burial Permitand the undertaker or other person 
on the receipt of said special permit, shall pay to the said judge or justice, granting 
the-same, the sum of fifteen cents. 
6. And be it enacted, That any person who shall knowingly make any false certifi- 
cate, statement or receipt, relative to any marriage, birth or death, under the action 
of this law, shall be judged guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction shall be pun- 
ished by fine or imprisonment, or both, at the discretion of the court. 
7. And be it enacted, That the proper officer to receive the certificates of marriages, 
births and deaths, and to grant permits for burial, shall, in any incorporated city or 
borough be the city clerk or other officer charged with these duties, and in any county 
having a similar officer appointed by a county board of health now organized, be such 
person or persons as said incorporated city or county board of health has authorized 
or may authorize, and in townships the assessor, but in townships outside of city or 
incorporate, or county health board limits, the burial certificate given by any regu- 
larly graduated physician shall constitute the burial permit as herein provided. 
These sections are so explicit as only to need enforcement rather than explanation. 3 
The burial of a person in this State without Certificate or Permit, or the failure of a 
person in charge of a burial to return the same according to the city law or according 
to this law as provided in townships, is so hazardous that it is not likely to occur. 
There is only need to ask of physicians and others in making out certificates that 
they be as exact and full as possible in the statement of facts and that the returns of 
cause of death be such as the Leaflet to Physicians indicates. Such terms as general 
debility, dropsy, old age, sore throat, etc., are rarely defensible. On the other hand, 
cholera, typhus and typhoid fever, diphtheria, cerebro-spinal meningitis, should not 
be attached as names unless the specific character is clear. As the best practitioners 
are sometimes the least positive as to the immediate cause of death, where there is 
doubt “ Ap” for approximate may be marked after the disease named. 
In the interests of Public Health it is often well for the physician to state how 
prevalent the disease is at that time, if it is at all endemic or epidemic, and to note 
on the back of any certificate the prevalence of any disease which has been so mild 
as not to cause death. No physician should report a disease prevalent in his own 
practice unless he has had at least ten cases during the month. 
In case of death, physicians will save undertakers trouble by leaving the certificate 
at the house of the deceased, or by having it ready at their own offices, so that it may 
be had when called for in their absence. 
When in case of sudden death for which a physician finds he can not give certifi- 
cate, a coroner or county physician, or a justice of the peace acting as coroner, is 
called, said officer gives the certificate of death as would the physician in other cases, 
and signs his official title. 
This copy of the printed sections of the act, etc., may be sent at any time by asses- 
sors or city clerks to any persons neglecting their duties under the law, or to any new 
physicians or ministers, etc., moving within their bounds. None, howeyer, can plead 
ignorance of the law from not having received such special reminder. The names of 
physicians, ministers, undertakers, and all required to make returns, should be kept 
by each assessor or city clerk in a small book, or we will, on request, furnish blank 
sheets for them. This Bureau should be notified especially as to changes of physicians 
and undertakers. 
NOTE TO CITY CLERKS AND ASSESSORS. 
Assessors and city clerks will send on the 15th of each month the certificates up to 
the Ist of the month, and place on the outside of the envelope, by number and initials, 
how many are sent, so as to compare accounts. When an Assessor goes out of office 
he should include in his monthly return all certificates in hand at that time, together 
with the name and address of his successor. As the time of administering oaths to 
officers after the March elections varies from the middle of March to April, we close 
the fiscal year so soon as returns up to April Ist are received. All clerks of incor- 
porated cities may have their receipt for returns twice per year if they prefer. 
Payment is due on the presentation of the certificate for returns from the Secretary 
of State, as thus provided in the law: 
And be it enacted, That such assessor, clerk or other officer, upon receiving a cer- 
tificate from the Secretary of State as to the whole number of marriages, births and 
deaths returned as aforesaid, shall be entitled to receive from the collector of the 
township or other proper disbursing officer, ten cents for each marriage, birth or 
death so returned, the receipt for which shall be attached to the said certificate, and 
no payment shall be made unless such certificate be produced. 
In cities the '‘proper disbursing officer” is the one who pays the usual city bills. 4 
A question as to disinterment and re-burial is answered in a former circular, as 
follows: 
“ In such cases the following written certificate, signed and presented to the asses- 
sor or city clerk, by the undertaker conducting the re-burial, or the person applying 
therefor, will be sufficient for the issue of permit 
[form.] 
We, the undersigned, by the consent of the proper persons, request that a Permit 
be issued for the Disinterment of the body of who died about 
, and for re-burial at . We assure that, in said removal no other 
grave shall be disturbed, and that the transfer of the body shall be so made as not to 
endanger the public health. 
Signed, , 
May physicians, etc., make their returns of the births of other townships in the 
township or city where they reside ? This would lead to confusion, as then the asses- 
sor cannot know whether proper return has been made from his district. When the 
practice of a physician is much outside of the township or city in which he lives, it 
is easy for him to leave returns with parents at his first visit, and direct them to 
hand to the assessor, or himself to arrange with the assessor as to sending them. 
With the returns made August 15th, of each year, all city clerks and assessors are 
requested to send us the names and P. O. address of any new physicians who have 
commenced practice since the report of the former year, and of any who have removed 
or have died. Designate, as far as you can, the sect of practice—those of the Preva- 
lent, or Old School, being marked (A), those of the Botanic (B), those of the Eclectic 
(E), those of the Homeopathic (H), and Midwives (M). We may thus know whether 
those signing their names to birth and death certificates have somewhere received 
education or license. 
All persons who have to do with obtaining or furnishing the various blanks and 
returns will, on request by postal directed to this Bureau, receive a copy of the 
annual reports of the State Board of Health as issued in January of each year, unless 
the supply has become exhausted.