AN ACT authorizing the State Board of Health to establish a bureau of vital statistics; provide for the registration of births and deaths; the granting of burial or removal permits; the reporting of morbidity statistics; the election of a State Registrar of Vital Statistics and other assistants and remuneration for the same.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Mississippi, That a Bureau of Vital Statistics shall be established by the State Board of Health, which shall provide an adequate system for the registration of births and deaths and preservation of vital statistics on forms prescribed by said. Board of Health, and provide adequate methods for enforcing the laws and orders of the Board relating to health matters of the State.

Sec. 2. That the Secretary of the State Board of Health shall act as State Registrar of Vital Statistics, and his compensation for said duties shall be fixed by the said Board, and it shall be his duty to carry into effect the rules, regulations and orders of the State Board of Health, provided for the Bureau of Vital Statistics, and the said Board shall provide for such clerical and other assistance as may be necessary for the purposes of this Act, and may fix the compensation of persons thus employed within the amount appropriated for the health work by the Legislature, and provide suitable apartments, properly equipped with fireproof vaults and filing cases, for the permanent and safer preservation of all official records made and returned to said bureau.

Sec. 3. That for the purposes of this Act the said State Board of Health may divide the State into registration districts, defining and designating the boundaries thereof and appointing local registrars in each district.

Sec. 4. That the said Board of Health shall formulate and promulgate rules and regulations for the proper reporting and registration of morbidity and vital statistics, prescribing the method and form of making such registration.

Sec. 5. That any copy of the records of birth, sickness or death, when properly certified to by the State Registrar of Vital Statistics, to be a true copy thereof, shall be prima facie in all courts and places of the facts therein stated.

Sec. 6. That each local registrar shall be paid the sum of twenty-five cents for each birth and death certificate properly made out in the manner and on the form required by the State Board of Health, same to be paid by the treasurer of the county in which the registration district is located upon certification made annually on January 1 to the County Treasurer by the State Registrar of Vital Statistics.

Sec. 7. That any person or persons who shall violate any rule, regulation, or order of the State Board of Health relative to recording, reporting or filing information for the Bureau of Vital Statistics, or who shall wilfully neglect or refuse to perform any duties imposed upon them by said orders, or who shall furnish false information for the purpose of making incorrect records for said Bureau, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not less than five dollars nor more than one hundred dollars, or be imprisoned in the county jail not exceeding sixty days, or suffer both fine and imprisonment, in the discretion of the court.

Sec. 8. That all laws and Acts, or parts of Acts in conflict with this Act are hereby repealed.

Sec. 9. That this Act take effect and be in force from and after its passage.

Approved March 11, 1912.

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Rules and Regulations of the Mississippi State Board of Health, Governing the Registration of Births and Deaths, Made in Accordance with an Act Approved March 11, 1912.

Authorizing the State Board of Health to establish a Bureau of Vital Statistics; provide for the registration of births and deaths; the granting of burial or removal permits; the reporting of morbidity statistics; the election of a State Registrar of Vital Statistics and other assistants and remuneration for the same.

RULE 1.

For the purpose of this Act the State shall be divided into Registration Districts as follows: Each city, town, village and election precinct shall constitute a primary registration district.

Provided that the State Registrar may combine two or more of said primary registration districts into one primary registration district.

RULE 2.

The State Registrar shall appoint some person residing in each registration district to serve as Local Registrar.

RULE 3.

Each local registrar shall appoint a deputy to be approved by the State Registrar, whose duty it shall be to act instead of the local registrar in case of absence, illness or disability, who shall accept such appointment in writing, and who shall be subject to the rules and regulations governing the action of local registrars.

RULE 4.

And when it may appear necessary for the convenience of the people, the State Registrar is hereby authorized to appoint one or more suitable persons to act as sub-registrars within such area as may be designated by the State Registrar, and such sub-registrars shall have the same powers and duties within their respective jurisdiction as local registrars, and be subject to the same supervision and control of the State Registrar, and which sub-registrar shall note over his signature the date each certificate was filed, and forward all certificates to the local registrar within ten days, and in all cases before the fifth day of the following month.

RULE 5.

Any local, deputy or sub-registrar who fails or neglects to efficiently discharge the duties of his office in accordance with the Act provided for the registration of births and deaths, or the rules and regulations of the State Board of Health governing the same, shall be forthwith removed from office by the State Registrar, in addition to the other penalties that may be imposed under Section 7 of the Act.

RULE 6.

The body of any person whose death occurs in the State shall not be interred, deposited in a vault or tomb, cremated or

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otherwise disposed of, or removed from or into any registration district or be temporarily held pending further disposition more than 72 hours after death until a permit for burial, removal or other disposition shall have been properly issued by the local registrar of the registration district in which the death occurs. And no such burial or removal permit shall be issued by any registrar until a complete and satisfactory certificate of death has been filed with him, as hereinafter provided. But a burial permit shall not be required from the local registrar of the district in which interment is made, when a body is removed from one district in Mississippi to another district n the State, for the purpose of burial or other disposition, either by common carrier, hearse or other conveyance; and no local registrar shall, as such, require from undertakers or persons acting as undertakers any fee for the privilege of burying dead bodies.

RULE 7.

That when a dead body is transported by common carrier into a registration district in Mississippi for burial, then the transit and removal permit, issued in accordance with the law and health regulations of the place where death occurred, when said death occurs outside of the State of Mississippi shall be accepted by the local registrar of the district, into which the body has been transported for burial or other disposition, as a basis upon which he shall issue a local burial permit, in the same way as if the death occurred in his district, but he shall plainly enter upon the face of the burial permit the fact that it was a body shipped in for interment, and give the actual place of death.

RULE 8.

Stillborn children, or those dead at birth shall be registered as births, and also as deaths, and a certificate of both birth and death shall be filed with the local registrar, in the usual form and manner, the certificate of birth to contain, in the place of the name of the child the word "stillbirth. The medical certificate of the cause of death as "stillborn," with the cause of stillbirth, if known; whether a premature birth; and if born prematurely, the period of utero-gestation, in months, if known; and a burial or removal permit in usual form shall be required; and stillbirths occurring without attendance of a physician, shall be treated as deaths without medical attendance.

Provided, that a certificate of birth and death shall not be required for a child that has not advanced to the fifth month of utero-gestation.

RULE 9.

The certificate of death shall contain the following items::

(1) Place of death; including State, county, election precinct, village, town or city. If in a city, the ward, street

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and house number. If in a hospital or other institution the name of the same to be given instead of the street and house number.

(2) Full name of decedent. If an unnamed child, the surname preceded by "unnamed.”

(3) Sex.

(4) Color of race; as white, black, (negro or negro descent), Indian, Chinese, Japanese or other.

(5) Conjugal condition; as single, married, widowed, or divorced.

(6) Date of birth, including the year, month and day. (7) Age, in years, months and days. If less than one day, the hours and minutes.

(8) Occupation. The occupation to be reported of any person who had any remunerative employment; women as well as men, stating (a) trade, profession or particular kind of work; (b) general nature of industry, business or establishment on which employed (or employer).

(9)

Birthplace; State or foreign country. (10) Name of father.

(11) Birthplace of father; State or foreign country. (12) Maiden name of mother.

(13) Birthplace of mother; State or foreign country.

(14) Signature and address of informant.

(15)

Official signature of registrar, with the date when certificate was filed, and registered number.

(16) Date of death, year, month and day.

(17) Statement of medical attendance on decedent. Fact and time of death, time last seen alive, and the cause of death, with contributory cause (secondary) or complication, if any, and duration of each and if attributed to dangerous or unsanitary conditions of employment; signature and address of physician or official making the medical certificate.

(18) Length of residence, (for hospitals, institutions. transients or recent residents) at place of death in the State.

(19) Place of burial or removal; date of burial.
(20) Signature and address of undertaker.

RULE 10.

The personal and statistical particulars (Item 1 to 13) shall be authenticated by the signature of the informant, who may be any competent person acquainted with the facts.

RULE 11.

The statement of facts relating to the disposition of the body shall be signed by the undertaker, or person acting as such.

RULE 12.

The medical certificate shall be made and signed by the physician, if any, last in attendance on the deceased, who shall

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specify the time of attendance, the time he last saw the deceased alive, and the hour of the day at which death occurred. And he shall further state the cause of death, so as to show the course of disease, or sequence of causes resulting in death, giving the primary cause, as well as the contributory causes, if any, and the duration of each. Indefinite and unsatisfactory items as defined by the State Registrar, indicating only symptoms of disease, or conditions resulting from disease will not be held sufficient for issuing a burial or removal permit; and any certificate containing only such terms shall be returned to the physician for correction and definition.

Causes of death, which may be the result of either disease or violence shall be carefully defined; and, if from violence. its nature shall be stated, and whether (probably) accidental, suicidal or homicidal. And in case of deaths in hospitals, institutions, or away from home, the attending physician shall furnish the information required under this head. (Item 18).

RULE 13.

In case of any death occurring without medical attendance, it shall be the duty of the undertaker or person acting as such to notify the registrar of such death, and when so notified the registrar shall inform the local health officer, and refer the case to him for immediate investigation and certification, prior to issuing the permit. Provided, that when a local health officer is not a qualified physician, or when there is no such official, and in such cases only, the registrar is authorized to make the certificate and return from the statement of relatives or other persons having adequate knowledge of the facts.

Provided, further, that if the circumstances of the case render it probable that the death was caused by unlawful or suspicious means, the registrar shall then refer the case to the coroner for his investigation and certification; and any coroner whose duty it is to hold an inquest on the body of any deceased person, and to make the certificate of death required for a burial permit, shall state in his certificate the nature of the disease, or the manner of death, and if from external causes or violence, whether (probably) accidental, suicidal or homicidal; and shall in either case furnish such information as may be required by the State Registrar to properly classify the death.

RULE 14.

The undertaker or person acting as undertaker, shall be responsible for obtaining and filing the certificate of death with the local registrar of the district in which the death occurred, and securing a burial or removal permit, prior to any disposition of the body. He shall obtain the personal and statistical particulars required, from the person best qualified to supply