Marriages Registration Act 1962
An Act to repeal the Marriage Act 1942 and to make provision for the registration of marriages solemnized in this State
[Royal Assent 10 May 1962]
Be it enacted by His Excellency the Governor of Tasmania, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and House of Assembly, in Parliament assembled, as follows:
1. Short title and commencement
(1) This Act may be cited as the Marriages Registration Act 1962 .(2) This Act commences on the date on which the provisions of the Marriage Act 1961 of the Commonwealth (other than those that come into operation on the day on which that Act received the Royal Assent) come into operation.
The Marriage Act 1942 is repealed.
[Section 3 Amended by No. 29 of 1984, s. 3 and Sched. 1 ]In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears –Commonwealth Marriage Act means the Marriage Act 1961 of the Commonwealth and any Commonwealth Act amending or passed in substitution for that Act;Register means the Register of Marriages required to be kept under this Act;Registrar-General means the Registrar-General appointed pursuant to the Registration of Births and Deaths Act 1895 .
4. General duties of Registrar-General
It is the duty of the Registrar-General, in accordance with this Act, to register marriages solemnized in this State and to keep the Register of Marriages.
The Register of Marriages comprises –and includes any correction, alteration, note, or memorandum lawfully made in or on, or attached to, any document forming part of the Register.(a) the general register of marriages constituted under any Act repealed by this Act; and(b) the certificates of marriages solemnized after the commencement of this Act that have been registered under this Act –
(1) The Registrar-General shall cause each certificate of marriage received by him to be numbered in accordance with this section and shall sign his name on each certificate so numbered and add thereto the date on which the certificate was so numbered.(2) For the purposes of this Act a certificate of marriage shall be deemed to have been received by the Registrar-General –(a) if the marriage to which it relates was solemnized by him, immediately it has been signed and otherwise completed in accordance with the requirements of the Commonwealth Marriage Act; and(b) in any other case, on the receipt by him of the certificate forwarded to him as required by the Commonwealth Marriage Act.(3) On compliance with subsection (1) in relation to any certificate of marriage the marriage to which the certificate relates shall be deemed to have been registered under this Act.(4) [Section 6 Subsection (4) amended by No. 46 of 1991, s. 4 and Sched. 2 ]For the purposes of complying with subsection (1) each certificate of marriage in respect of the marriages solemnized in any year shall be numbered serially, commencing with the number one, according to the time at which it is received by the Registrar-General.(5) [Section 6 Subsection (5) amended by No. 46 of 1991, s. 4 and Sched. 2 ]The Registrar-General shall cause all certificates of marriages registered in this State to be bound in a volume or volumes in the order of the years in which they were solemnized and in the order in which they are numbered in accordance with this section.(6) This section does not apply to marriages solemnized before the commencement of this Act.(7) [Section 6 Subsection (7) inserted by No. 20 of 1985, s. 4 ]Where it is required by subsection (1) that the Registrar-General sign a certificate, he may –a facsimile of his signature to the certificate and the facsimile so attached has the same force and effect as if the Registrar-General had personally signed his name in the place of the facsimile signature, and all courts and judges shall take judicial notice of the facsimile signature of the Registrar-General and shall presume that it was properly attached.(a) himself attach; or(b) authorize a person to attach –
(1) Where it is certified to the Registrar-General in accordance with the Commonwealth Marriage Act that a correction in a certificate of marriage is necessary he shall cause that correction to be made in the Register.(2) If the Registrar-General is satisfied by declaration or such other evidence as he thinks sufficient, that any particular in the Register with respect to a marriage solemnized before the commencement of this Act is incorrect, or that any clerical error has occurred in the registration of that marriage, he may make the necessary correction in the Register.(3) Where a correction is made in the Register under this section, the like correction may be made by the Registrar-General in any duplicate or copy of the certificate of that marriage that has been handed to either of the parties thereto.
8. Entry of change of name in Register
If the Registrar-General is satisfied that any person whose marriage is registered is lawfully using a name other than the name by which he is described in the Register, the Registrar-General may, upon payment of the prescribed fee, cause to be entered in the Register a note of the name so used by that person.
9. Notices of dissolution, &c., of marriages
(1) Where the Registrar-General receives, from an officer of a competent court within any part of the Sovereign's Dominions (including a court having jurisdiction in this State) or from any officer in whose charge is placed the keeping of any principal register of marriages in any part of the British Dominions (other than this State), a notice that a marriage registered in this State has been finally dissolved or annulled by such a court, he shall cause to be entered in the Register a memorandum of the particulars disclosed in the notice.(2) Nothing in subsection (1) requires the Registrar-General to enter in the Register a memorandum of the particulars disclosed in any such notice as is referred to in that subsection that is not received from the registrar or other similar officer of a court of the Commonwealth or of any State or Territory of the Commonwealth unless he is satisfied that the marriage to which the notice relates has been dissolved or annulled.
10. Indexes of and copies of entries in Register
(1) The Registrar-General shall cause indexes of the Register to be made and to be kept with the other records of his office.(2) [Section 10 Subsection (2) amended by No. 20 of 1985, s. 5 ]Subject to subsection (4) any person, on payment of the prescribed fee, is entitled, at any reasonable hour, to require the indexes to be searched, and is entitled to have a certified copy of, or extract from, any entry in the Register under the hand of the Registrar-General.(2A) [Section 10 Subsection (2A) inserted by No. 20 of 1985, s. 5 ]For the purposes of certifying a copy of, or extract from, any entry referred to in subsection (2) , the Registrar-General, or a person authorized by the Registrar-General, may attach a facsimile of the signature of the Registrar-General to any copy of, or extract from, any entry in the Register and the facsimile so attached has the same force and effect as if the Registrar-General had personally signed his name in the place of the facsimile signature, and all courts and judges shall take judicial notice of the facsimile signature of the Registrar-General and shall presume that it was properly attached.(3) Any copy of, or extract from, any entry in the Register made for the purposes of this section shall include all the alterations, corrections, notes, and memoranda made under this Act in or on that entry.(4) The Registrar-General may, if he thinks fit, require any person seeking to have a search made of the indexes to disclose the reasons for the search and any other relevant matters, and if the Registrar-General is of the opinion that the search is required for improper reasons, or that the person requiring the search has no proper reason for requiring the search to be made, he may, unless he is otherwise directed by the Minister, refuse to make the search or to issue any certified copy or extract.(5) [Section 10 Subsection (5) amended by No. 46 of 1991, s. 4 and Sched. 2 ]No fee shall be payable in respect of any search, certificate, or extract required for the purposes of a government department, and the Registrar-General may make any search or issue any certificate or extract for any such purpose.
11. Lost or destroyed certificate of marriage
(1) [Section 11 Subsection (1) amended by No. 46 of 1991, s. 4 and Sched. 2 ]If any certificate or other document forming part of the Register is lost or destroyed any substitute for that certificate or other document or a certified copy thereof furnished to the Registrar-General in accordance with the Commonwealth Marriage Act or under subsection (2) shall be deemed to be a substitute for the certificate or other document lost or destroyed and shall be dealt with accordingly.(2) Where the certificate, or certified copy of the certificate, of a marriage solemnized before the commencement of this Act is lost or destroyed any person in whose possession is a register containing a duplicate of that certificate shall, on the demand of the Registrar-General, supply to him, without charge, a copy of that certificate certified by him under this hand to be a true copy thereof.
12. Manner of altering Register
(1) Where the Registrar-General makes, under this Act, any alteration in the Register in respect of any marriage that alteration shall be made on the certificate of that marriage contained in the Register and he shall not, in making that alteration, erase, or obliterate any matter written on that certificate, and he shall append his signature to the alteration, and clearly endorse the certificate with the date on which, and the authority under or the reason for which, it was made.(1A) [Section 12 Subsection (1A) inserted by No. 20 of 1985, s. 6 ]Where it is required by subsection (1) that the Registrar-General append his signature to an alteration, he may –a facsimile of his signature to the alteration and the facsimile so appended has the same force and effect as if the Registrar-General had personally signed his name in the place of the facsimile signature, and all courts and judges shall take judicial notice of the facsimile signature of the Registrar-General and shall presume that it was properly appended.(a) himself append; or(b) authorize a person to append –(2) References in this section to an alteration in the Register shall be deemed to include references to any correction, note, or memorandum which the Registrar-General is authorized or required by this Act to make in the Register.
13. Keeping of registers of marriages solemnized before the commencement of this Act
(1) A person who, immediately before the commencement of this Act was an authorized celebrant within the meaning of the Marriage Act 1942 , shall, as a record of any marriage solemnized by or before him before the commencement of this Act, keep, in a register provided for the purpose, any certificate, marriage notice, licence, and consent that, if this Act had not been enacted, he would have been required to keep.(2) It is sufficient compliance with the provisions of this section in relation to any documents required to be kept in any register by any person if that person delivers that register into the keeping of the head or governing body in the State of the religious denomination or body to which immediately before the commencement of this Act he belonged or to the governing body of the church or place of worship at which immediately before the commencement of this Act he was accustomed to officiate or of which he had charge.
The Governor may make regulations for the purposes of this Act.